Are Social Networks the Ties that Bind Families to Neighborhoods?

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of intra-neighborhood social ties on the inter-neighborhood residential mobility of families with children using data from the 1997 and 2002 Child Development Supplements (CDS) of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Results suggest that local kinship ties and the social networks of children deter the inter-neighborhood mobility of families with children. Among low-income families, local social ties are even more ‘binding’. These results have important implications for community development policy and housing programs that emphasize inter-neighborhood mobility.

Keywords:

• Social networks
• social capital
• residential mobility

Acknowledgements

Preliminary results from this study were discussed at the 2004 Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Conference in Portland, Oregon. The author wishes to thank Diane Zahm, Ted Koebel, Max Stephenson, Charles Connerly and the anonymous referees for helpful comments on earlier versions of this draft.