A concentrated disadvantage is a
sociological
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...
term for neighborhoods with high percentages of residents of low
socioeconomic status
Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family's economic access to resources and social position in relation to others. When analyzing a family's ...
. It is expressed as the percent of households located in
census tract
A census tract, census area, census district or meshblock is a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census. Sometimes these coincide with the limits of cities, towns or other administrative areas and several tracts commonly exist ...
s with high levels of concentrated disadvantage.
Associations and effects
Concentrated disadvantage has been found to be positively related to homicide
Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...
rates and reduces probability of high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
completion. A positive association between concentrated disadvantage and rates of violence more generally has also been found; this relationship is mediated primarily by collective efficacy. There is also evidence that juvenile court
A juvenile court, also known as young offender's court or children's court, is a tribunal having special authority to pass judgements for crimes that are committed by children who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal s ...
officials perceive more disadvantaged neighborhoods as more dangerous, and so are less likely to release youth from such neighborhoods into their communities. Child development
Child development involves the Human development (biology), biological, developmental psychology, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. Childhood is divided into 3 stages o ...
is enhanced the most in neighborhoods with approximately equal amounts of concentrated disadvantage and affluence
Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...
.
Calculation
According to one formula, concentrated disadvantage is calculated based on five metrics. These metrics are:
#Percent of individuals below the poverty line
#Percent of individuals on public assistance
#Percent female-headed households,
#Percent unemployed, and
#Percent less than age 18.
References
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Sociological terminology
Poverty