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Family Structure, Residential Mobility, and Environmental Inequality.
Liam Downey1, Kyle Crowder2, Robert J Kemp3
1Department of Sociology, Ketchum 195, UCB 327, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309.
Journal of Marriage and the Family
|March 29, 2017
Summary
Single-mother and single-father families live in more polluted neighborhoods. This disparity persists even when controlling for socioeconomic factors and is driven by where families move, not their likelihood to move.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Sociology
- Urban Studies
- Family Demography
Background:
- Disparities in environmental pollution exposure are a significant public health concern.
- Understanding the role of family structure in environmental justice is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between family structure and residential proximity to industrial pollution.
- To investigate residential mobility processes contributing to differential pollution exposure across family types.
Main Methods:
- Utilized micro-level data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID).
- Integrated neighborhood-level industrial hazard data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
- Incorporated U.S. census data for neighborhood characteristics.
Main Results:
- Single-mother and single-father families face higher neighborhood pollution levels (46% and 26% greater, respectively) than two-parent families.
- These disparities persist after controlling for socioeconomic, sociodemographic, and race/ethnic factors.
- Mobile single-parent families move into more polluted neighborhoods compared to mobile two-parent families.
Conclusions:
- Family structure significantly influences proximity to industrial pollution.
- Residential mobility patterns, specifically destination choices, maintain pollution proximity gaps.
- Policy interventions may need to address residential sorting into polluted areas by family type.
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