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Contents -- Introduction - Martha A. Gephart and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn -- Chapter 1. Neighborhoods and Communities as Contexts for Development - Martha A. Gephart -- Chapter 2. Development in Context: Implications for Studying Neighborhood Effects - J. Lawrence Aber, Martha A. Gephart, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, and James P. Connell -- Chapter 3. Neighborhood Models and Measures - Greg J. Duncan and J. Lawrence Aber

Contents -- Introduction - Martha A. Gephart and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn -- Chapter 1. Ecological Perspectives on the Neighborhood Context of Urban Poverty: Past and Present - Robert J. Sampson and Jeffrey D. Morenoff -- Chapter 2. The Influence of Neighborhoods on Children's Development: A Theoretical Perspective and a Research Agenda - Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., and Mary Elizabeth Hughes -- Chapter 3. Bringing Families Back In: Neighborhood Effects on Child Development - Robin L. Jarrett

Adolescent childbearing has received decreasing attention from academics and policymakers in recent years, which may in part reflect the decline in its incidence. Another reason may be its uncoupling from nonmarital childbearing. Adolescent childbearing became problematized only when it began occurring predominantly outside marriage. In recent decades, there have been historic rises in the rate of nonmarital childbearing, and importantly, the rise has been steeper among older mothers than among adolescent mothers. Today, two out of five births are to unmarried women, and the majority of these are to adults, not adolescents. Nonmarital childbearing is in and of itself associated with lower income and poorer maternal and child outcomes. However, unmarried adolescent mothers might face more difficulties than unmarried adult mothers due to their developmental status, education, living arrangements, and long-term prospects for work. If this is true, then the focus on adolescent mothers ought to continue. We suggest several facets of adolescent motherhood deserving of further study, and recommend that future research use unmarried mothers in their early 20s as a realistic comparison group.

Abstract: Data from the New York City Moving to Opportunity 3‐year follow‐up were used to examine neighborhood and gender effects on adolescents' family processes. Low‐income, minority families in public housing in high‐poverty neighborhoods were assigned randomly to (a) move to private housing in low‐poverty neighborhoods only, (b) move to private housing in neighborhoods of their choice, or (c) stay in place. Family processes, assessed by parent reports and interviewer observations, were compared for those who relocated and those who stayed in place. Parents in the low‐poverty group were observed to be harsher toward their daughters than parents in the high‐poverty group. In adolescence, residential relocation may be difficult for mother‐daughter relations and require additional services to ease the transition.

The authors describe various parenting behaviors, such as nurturance, discipline, teaching, and language use, and explain how researchers measure them. They note racial and ethnic variations in several behaviors. Most striking are differences in language use. Black and Hispanic mothers talk less with their young children than do white mothers and are less likely to read to them daily. They also note some differences in harshness.

When researchers measuring school readiness gaps control for parenting differences, the racial and ethnic gaps narrow by 25-50 percent. And it is possible to alter parenting behavior to improve readiness. The authors examine programs that serve poor families—and thus disproportionately serve minority families—and find that home- and center-based programs with a parenting component improve parental nurturance and discipline. Programs that target families with children with behavior problems improve parents' skills in dealing with such children. And certain family literacy programs improve parents' skills in talking with their children. Several interventions have significantly reduced gaps in the parenting behavior of black and white mothers.

Not all improvements in parenting translate to improved school readiness. Home-based programs affect the mother but do not appear to affect the child, at least in the short term. But center-based programs with a parenting component enhance both parenting and school readiness. And some family literacy programs also improve readiness.

Because these successful interventions serve a greater share of minority than nonminority families and have more positive effects for blacks than for whites, they offer promise for closing the ethnic and racial gaps in school readiness.