ASSETS, NEIGHBORHOODS, AND CHILDREN'S OUTCOMES
Project: ASSETS, NEIGHBORHOODS, AND CHILDREN’S OUTCOMES
Sponsor: Ford Foundation
IPS Staff: Sandra Newman, Scott Holupka, Amy Robie, and Laura Vernon-Russell
Purpose and Approach
Several rigorous studies find that homeownership has large, positive effects on children’s well-being and life prospects. Our earlier studies found that these positive associations were especially pronounced for lower-income families, and that homeownership was better than renting even in a neighborhood with some signs of distress. But we do not understand whether these purported homeownership effects are truly the result of homeownership per se or of the characteristics of those who become homeowners. Further, if homeownership effects exist, we need to know why, under what conditions, and for whom homeownership is beneficial to children’s development. The current project uses data from two major national longitudinal surveys, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and its Child Development Supplements (CDS) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), to examine these questions. Child outcomes include standardized reading and math test scores and beha-vior problems.
Results
Our analysis of the self-selection hypothesis using the PSID-CDS finds little evidence that homeow-nership has an effect on child well-being. This suggests that the earlier findings, which overwhelmingly point to beneficial effects of homeownership on children, may have misinterpreted selection differ-ences in who becomes a homeowner as the effect of homeownership itself. This research also finds little evidence that homeownership conveys effects through the hypothesized (but rarely tested) media-tors of the psychological status of the parent, neighborhood attributes, or the home environment. But homeownership is associated with greater residential stability—the most common hypothesized media-tor—for both black and white children. These findings raise questions about the prominent role as-signed to homeownership in U.S. housing policy.
Publications
Holupka, S. and S. Newman (2009). “The Effects of Homeownership on Children’s Outcomes: Real Effects or Self-Selection?” Presented to the Colloquium on the Law, Economics, and Politics of Urban Affairs, New York University School of Law and Wagner School of Public Service, March 9. (Earlier version presented at the fall 2008 research meeting of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, Los, Angeles, CA, November 7, 2008.)
