Perceived advantages: the influence of urban and suburban neighbourhood context on the socialization and adaptation of Mexican immigrant young men

ABSTRACT

Neighbourhoods are important contexts for the socialization and adaptation of immigrant youth. They provide resources and opportunities for positive interactions with peers and non-family adults. But neighbourhoods differ systemically in their demographic composition and the type and quality of resources they offer young people. In the US, there is an implicit assumption equating suburban neighbourhoods with better schools, more jobs and higher quality housing compared to urban neighbourhoods. There is however, little explicit empirical evidence of how such differences may shape the experience of immigrant youth. This gap is concerning in light of recent trends of immigrants to move directly to the suburbs. The first part of the paper reviews the literatures on immigrant adaptation and neighbourhood effects. Drawing on two qualitative studies, the second part of the paper illustrates mechanisms through which suburban and urban neighbourhoods may influence the socialization and adaptation of immigrant youth growing up in them.

KEYWORDS:

• Immigrant youth
• adaptation
• neighbourhood effects
• social boundaries
• socialization
• suburban neighbourhoods

Acknowledgments

This paper benefited greatly from comments provided by the participants of a qualitative research seminar at the University of Chicago and attendees of the 2014 International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion (IMISCOE) conference in Madrid, Spain.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The MTO demonstration was a randomized housing mobility experiment. Families from high-poverty public housing projects were given vouchers to help them move to low-poverty neighbourhoods. An ‘experimental’ group was offered vouchers for low-poverty neighbourhoods only, a ‘Section 8’ group was offered vouchers without geographic restriction, and a control group was not offered vouchers.

2. Waldorf Schools are private institutions inspired by the educational ideas of Rudolf Steiner.

3. All respondent names have been replaced by aliases.