ABSTRACT
More generally, even after controlling for the socio-economic characteristics of individuals and families, neighborhood characteristics of individuals have been shown to exert important effects on a variety of social, psychological, and economic outcomes, including educational attainment (...), marital and nonmarital fertility (...), sexual activity (...), criminal victimization (...), life satisfaction (...), and children's cognitive development (...). By and large, problematic behaviors and experiences appear to be more common in socioeconomically distressed neighborhoods; thus, it is frequently assumed that migration out of these neighborhoods and into more advantaged environments will prove beneficial for those who can escape poor areas (...) (South and Crowder, 1997, pp. 1040-1041).
