Abstract
Little research has examined the residential segregation of blacks, Hispanics, and Asians from whites disaggregated by family structure and the presence of children in metropolitan America. Using data from the 2010 Census and the 2006–2010 American Community Survey, we find that, net of controls, among blacks, single-mother families are significantly more segregated from whites than married couples, regardless of the presence of children. However, these same differences in segregation are not found among Hispanics and Asians. Among those groups, married families with children under 18 are more segregated from whites than married families without children under 18, suggesting that married Hispanics and Asians with children desire closer proximity to their co-ethnics. The results suggest that racial and ethnic segregation by family structure and the presence of children varies by the racial and ethnic group considered and is, therefore, important to understanding overall racial and ethnic segregation in metropolitan America.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Married-couple families refers to husband–wife families. Same-sex couples are not included in this count because they are classified as unmarried partners, even if the marriage was performed in a state issuing marriage certificates for same-sex couples.
We present a parallel set of multivariate analyses in Appendix Table 7 that uses white married families with children under 18 as the reference group in all dissimilarity scores that are analyzed.
The pattern of differences in results in Appendix Table 6 that uses white married families with children under 18 as the reference group in the dissimilarity scores is similar in nature to those presented in Table 1. The main difference is that the values of the dissimilarity scores are larger in Appendix Table 6, as we suspected. However, the magnitude of the differences is not very large, which is likely attributable to the fact that the analysis is based upon counts of families. If families include several children, they are counted only once in our analysis, in contrast to studies that use counts of children and adults (e.g., Owens, 2017).
In contrast to the findings in Appendix Table 5, the descriptive results in Table 1 show that the only difference in segregation that is significant is the one between Hispanic families with and without related children under 18. The difference in results is likely due to the fact that in Table 1, the average segregation scores are calculated by weighting by the population size of the metropolitan areas.
However, because we cannot disaggregate the category of “without related children under 18” into those with older children and those with no children, a limitation of our analysis is that we do not know what group might be responsible for the higher levels of residential segregation from Whites, relative to families with related children under 18.
References
Ackert, E., Spring, A., Crowder, K., & South, S. (2019). Kin location and racial disparities in exiting and entering poor neighborhoods. Social Science Research, 84, 102346.
Alba, R. D., & Logan, J. R. (1991). Variation on two themes: Racial and ethnic patterns in attainment of suburban residence. Demography, 28, 431–453.
Alba, R. D., & Logan, J. R. (1993). Minority proximity to whites in suburbs: An individual-level analysis of segregation. American Journal of Sociology, 98, 1388–1427.
Anacker, K., Niedt, C., & Kwon, C. (2017). Analyzing segregation in mature and developing suburbs in the united states. Journal of Urban Affairs, 39(6), 819–832.
Barrow, L. (2002). School choice through relocation: Evidence from the Washington, DC area. Journal of Public Economics, 86(2), 155–189.
Brown, S. L., Manning, W. D., & Bart Stykes, J. (2015). Family structure and child well-being: Integrating family complexity. Journal of Marriage and Family, 77(1), 177–190.
Charles, C. Z. (2003). The dynamics of racial residential segregation. Annual Review of Sociology, 29, 167–207.
Child Trends Databank. (2015). Family structure: Indicators on children and youth. Child Trends.
Crowder, K. D. (2000). The racial context of white mobility: An individual-level assessment of the white flight hypothesis. Social Science Research, 29(2), 223–257.
Cuddy, M., Krysan, M., & Lewis, A. (2020). Choosing homes without choosing schools? How urban parents navigate decisions about neighborhoods and school choice. Journal of Urban Affairs, 42(8), 1180–1201.
Desmond, M. (2012). Eviction and the reproduction of urban poverty. American Journal of Sociology, 118(1), 88–133.
Desmond, M. (2016). Evicted: Poverty and profit in the American city. Crown.
Desmond, M., An, W., Winkler, R., & Ferriss, T. (2013). Evicting children. Social Forces, 92(1), 303–327.
Farley, R., & Frey, W. H. (1994). Changes in the segregation of whites from blacks during the 1980s: Small steps toward a more integrated society. American Sociological Review, 59, 23–45.
Firebaugh, G., & Farrell, C. R. (2016). Still large, but narrowing: The sizable decline in racial neighborhood inequality in Metropolitan America, 1980–2010. Demography, 53, 139–164.
Fossett, M. (2017). New methods for measuring and analyzing segregation. Springer Open.
Fry, R. (2016). For first time in modern era, living with parents edges out other living arrangements for 18- to 34-year-olds. Pew Research Center.
Goyette, K., Iceland, J., & Weininger, E. (2014). Moving for the kids: Examining the influence of children on white residential segregation. City & Community, 13(2), 158–178.
Hall, M., Iceland, J., & Yi, Y. (2019). Racial separation at home and work: Segregation in residential and workplace settings. Population Research and Policy Review, 38(5), 671–694.
Iceland, J., Weinberg, D. H., & Steinmetz, E. (2002). Racial and ethnic residential segregation in the United States: 1980–2000. U.S. Census Bureau Series, CENSR-3.
Iceland, J., Goyette, K. A., Nelson, K. A., & Chan, C. (2010). Racial and ethnic residential segregation and household structure: A research note. Social Science Research, 39, 39–47.
Iceland, J., & Scopilliti, M. (2008). Immigrant residential segregation in us metropolitan areas, 1990–2000. Demography, 45(1), 79–94.
Iceland, J., & Sharp, G. (2013). White residential segregation in U.S. metropolitan areas: Conceptual issues, patterns, and trends from the U.S. Census, 1980 to 2010. Population Research and Policy Review, 32, 663–686.
Iceland, J., & Wilkes, R. (2006). Does socioeconomic status matter? Race, class, and residential segregation. Social Problems, 53(2), 248–273.
Intrator, J., Tannen, J., & Massey, D. S. (2016). Segregation by race and income in the United States, 1970–2010. Social Science Research, 60, 45–60.
Jargowsky, P. A. (2014). “Segregation, neighborhoods, and schools. In A. Laureau & K. Goyette (Eds.), Choosing homes (pp. 97–136). Choosing Schools, Russell Sage.
Krysan, M., & Crowder, K. (2017). Cycle of segregation: Social processes and residential stratification. Russell Sage Foundation.
Kucheva, Y., & Sander, R. (2018). Structural versus ethnic dimensions of housing segregation. Journal of Urban Affairs, 40(3), 329–348.
Lareau, A., & Goyette, K. (Eds.). (2014). Choosing homes, choosing schools. Russell Sage Foundation.
LawAtlas Project. 2017. “The policy surveillance program: state fair housing protections.” Retrieved February 1, 2019. (http://lawatlas.org/datasets/state-fair-housing-protections-1498143743)
Lawrence, E., & Mollborn, S. (2017). Racial/ethnic patterns of kindergarten school enrollment in the United States. Sociological Forum, 32(3), 635–658.
Li, W. (1998). Anatomy of a new ethnic settlement: The Chinese Ethnoburb in Los Angeles. Urban Studies, 35(3), 479–501.
Li, W. (2009). Ethnoburb: The new ethnic community in urban America. University of Hawaii Press.
Liang, K. Y., & Zeger, S. L. (1986). Longitudinal data analysis using generalized linear models. Biometrika, 73, 13–22.
Lichter, D. T., Parisi, D., & Taquino, M. C. (2015). Toward a new macro-segregation? Decomposing segregation within and between metropolitan cities and suburbs. American Sociological Review, 80(4), 843–873.
Lichter, D. T., & Qian, Z. (2004). Marriage and family in a multiracial society. In R. Farley & J. Haaga (Eds.), The American people. Russell Sage Foundation.
Light, M. T., & Thomas, J. T. (2019). Segregation and violence reconsidered: Do whites benefit from residential segregation? American Sociological Review, 84(4), 690–725.
Light, M. T., & Ulmer, J. T. (2016). Explaining the gaps in white, black, and hispanic violence since 1990: Accounting for immigration, incarceration, and inequality. American Sociological Review, 81(2), 290–315.
Lofquist, D., Lugaila, T., O’Connell, M., & Feliz, S. (2012). Households and families: 2010. US Census Bureau.
Logan, J. R., Alba, R. D., & Zhang, W. (2002). Immigrant enclaves and ethnic communities in New York and Los Angeles. American Sociological Review, 67(2), 299–322.
Logan, John R. and Brian J. Stults. 2011. “The Persistence of Segregation in the Metropolis: New Findings from the 2010 Census.” Census Brief prepared for Project US2010. (https://s4.ad.brown.edu/Projects/Diversity/Projects/Reports.htm)
Logan, J. R., Oakley, D., Smith, P., Stowell, J., & Stults, B. (2001). Separating the children. Lewis Mumford Center. University at Albany, SUNY.
Logan, J. R., & Molotch, H. (1987). Urban fortunes. University of California Press.
Massey, D. S. (1985). Ethnic residential segregation: A theoretical synthesis and empirical review. Sociology and Social Research, 69(3), 315–350.
Massey, D. S., & Denton, N. A. (1993). American apartheid: Segregation and the making of the underclass. Harvard University Press.
Massey, D. S., & Lundy, G. (2001). Use of black english and racial discrimination in urban housing markets: New methods and findings. Urban Affairs Review, 36(4), 452–459.
Massey, D. S., & Tannen, J. (2015). A research note on trends in black hypersegregation. Demography, 52, 1025–1034.
McLanahan, S., & Percheski, C. (2008). Family structure and the reproduction of inequalities. Annual Review of Sociology, 34, 257–276.
Murchie, J., & Pang, J. (2018). Rental housing discrimination across protected classes: Evidence from a randomized experiment. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 73, 170–179.
Owens, A. (2017). "Racial residential segregation of school-age children and adults: The role of schooling as a segregating force. RSF: the Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 3(2), 63–80. https://doi.org/10.7758/rsf.2017.3.2.03
Reardon, S. F., & Owens, A. (2014). 60 years after brown: Trends and consequences of school segregation. Annual Review of Sociology, 40, 199–218.
Roscigno, V. J., Karafin, D. L., & Tester, G. (2009). The complexities and processes of racial housing discrimination. Social Problems, 56(1), 49–69.
Rugh, J. S., & Massey, D. S. (2014). Segregation in post-civil rights America: Stalled integration or end of the segregated century? Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 11(2), 205–232.
Sarkisian, N., & Gerstel, N. (2004). Kin support among blacks and whites: Race and family organization. American Sociological Review, 69(6), 812–837.
South, S. J., & Crowder, K. D. (1998). Leaving the ‘Hood: Residential mobility between black, white, and integrated neighborhoods. American Sociological Review, 63(1), 17–26.
Speare, A., Jr., Goldstein, S., & Frey, W. H. (1975). Residential mobility, migration, and metropolitan change. Ballinger.
Stack, C. B. (1975). All our kin. Basic Books.
Tester, G. (2008). An intersectional analysis of sexual harassment in housing. Gender & Society, 22(3), 349–366.
Timberlake, J. M., & Iceland, J. (2007). Change in racial and ethnic residential inequality in American cities, 1970–2000. City & Community, 6, 335–365.
Turner, M. A., Santos, R., Levy, D. K., Wissoker, D., Aranda, C., & Pitingolo, R. (2013). Housing discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities, 2012. Urban Institute.
U.S. Census Bureau. 2010. “Table P39B – Family type by presence and age of related children (Black or African American Alone Householder), by CBSA.” Retrieved June 20, 2021 (https://data.census.gov/cedsci/advanced)
U.S. Census Bureau. 2016. “Tables B17010B, B17010D, B17010H, B17010I -- Poverty status in the past 12 months by family type by presence of related children under 18 years by age of related children (black or African American alone householder; Asian alone householder; White alone, not hispanic or latino householder; hispanic or latino, respectively).” Retrieved June 12, 2018. (https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml)
US Census Bureau. (2017). Table 6—Race and hispanic origin by selected age groups. Projections for the United States: 2017-2060. Main Series. US Census Bureau.
Vespa, Jonathan, Jamie M. Lewis, and Rose M. Kreider. 2013. “America’s families and living arrangements: 2012.” Current population reports, U.S. Census Bureau, P20–570
Wilkes, R., & Iceland, J. (2004). Hypersegregation in the twenty-first century. Demography, 41(1), 23–36.
Williams, D. R., & Collins, C. (2001). Racial residential segregation: A Fundamental cause of racial disparities in health. Public Health Reports, 116, 404–416.
Yinger, J. (1995). Closed doors, opportunities lost: The continuing costs of housing discrimination. Russell Sage Foundation.
Zhou, M., & Bankson III, C. L. (2016). The rise of the new second generation. Polity Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Friedman, S., Wynn, C.E. & Tsao, Hs. Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation by Family Structure and the Presence of Children in Metropolitan America. Race Soc Probl 14, 170–188 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-021-09342-3
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-021-09342-3