Neighborhood deprivation plays an important role in childhood health and development, but definin... more Neighborhood deprivation plays an important role in childhood health and development, but defining the appropriate neighborhood definition presents theoretical as well as practical challenges. Few studies have compared neighborhood definitions outside of highly urbanized settings. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate how various administrative and ego-centric neighborhood definitions may impact measured exposure to deprivation across the urban-rural continuum. We do so using the Family Life Project, a prospective longitudinal population-based sample of families living in North Carolina and Pennsylvania (USA), which also sets the stage for future investigations of neighborhood impacts on childhood health and development. To measure neighborhood deprivation, a standardized index of socioeconomic deprivation was calculated using data from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey. Families’ residential addresses when children were 2 months of age (n=1036) were geocoded and ov...
Driven by our code of ethics and our call to reckon with our embeddedness within a white supremac... more Driven by our code of ethics and our call to reckon with our embeddedness within a white supremacist institution in the US South, the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work re-visioned our approach to the MSW curriculum. Using case study methods, we trace our history and on-going work through interviews, document review, and community conversations, centering student voices. Students interviewed spoke about activism prompted by racist events on campus and nationally, and the inadequate response from the administration. Their efforts led to school-wide initiatives including curriculum shifts and accountability and action. The first-year generalist course, Confronting Oppression and Institutional Discrimination was restructured and resituated. Critical Race Theory was infused across the coursework. Two new working groups were created: The Anti-Racism Task Force and Reconciliation Standing Committee. Efforts to address racism and white supremacy in academic spaces require sustained acti...
Prevention efforts, rapid rehousing, and housing-first approaches have been major contributors in... more Prevention efforts, rapid rehousing, and housing-first approaches have been major contributors in addressing homelessness. However, budget cuts may jeopardize these gains. The objective of this article is to use administrative data to examine an innovative new program’s ability to assist those experiencing homelessness to attain and retain permanent housing through asset building and access to financial services to build a more financially secure future. Results suggest that this program does foster savings and the attainment of permanent housing. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.
The Oxford Handbook of Poverty and Child Development, 2012
Children who live in poor rural communities have a somewhat different context for development fro... more Children who live in poor rural communities have a somewhat different context for development from urban children. Rural in comparison to urban communities have higher poverty rates; greater isolation from key services, such as schools and health care; and parents have more service related jobs with nonstandard work schedules. These factors are associated with poverty but also can add additional stress on rural family life that can contribute to more chaotic living conditions for young children, including disorganization, instability, and unpredictability. This chapter reviews the literature and presents data to support the view that chaos in rural communities may be greater than in urban areas and may be a particularly important mediator of the relationship between poverty and children's development. Data are presented from the Family Life Project to further support the link between poverty, chaos, and children's early development.
Places cannot be divorced from the people and things that act on them (Cummins et al. 2007; Macin... more Places cannot be divorced from the people and things that act on them (Cummins et al. 2007; Macintyre et al. 2002). Beyond this accepted statement, there is consid-erable debate on how place affects health, which effects matter, and how they should be measured. ...
Current trends have allowed some youth a lengthened transition to adulthood, in part because of d... more Current trends have allowed some youth a lengthened transition to adulthood, in part because of demographic shifts that delay the time until adolescents assume adult roles. Although these trends are well documented, less research has examined how this impacts vulnerable subgroups. Using a sample of predominantly White youth (ages 18-33) from the National Survey of Families and Households ( N = 1,517), this study traces the timing of critical events in emerging adulthood. Using survival analysis, results suggest poverty impacts youth experiences of home leaving, marriage, and parenthood. Low-income youth are at greater risk of early home leaving but less likely to leave after age 18. They are less likely to marry, though they have a greater risk of parenthood prior to age 25. Taken as whole, these outcomes can set youth up for negative trajectories throughout adulthood and may not allow poor youth the same opportunity for an extended period of emerging adulthood.
ABSTRACT Child care subsidy programs serve to reduce the number of families for whom child care i... more ABSTRACT Child care subsidy programs serve to reduce the number of families for whom child care is a barrier to work. Child care is essential to economic self-sufficiency, and it can also support child development, particularly for low-income children. However, most research has an urban focus so little is known about rural settings where formal programs are limited and of lower quality. In this paper we examine the subsidy use of rural families, the care arrangements they make, and the quality of care received. We utilized data collected between 2004 and 2007 from the Family Life Project, a representative, longitudinal study of non-metro families in low-wealth counties (n = 1,292), oversampled for low-income and African-American families. Families who used subsidies were more likely to select center-based care, typically of higher quality. Further, these families were also more likely to receive higher quality care, regardless of the type chosen, even after accounting for a host of family and community factors. Findings suggest that subsidy programs have successfully moved low-income children into higher quality care beneficial for development. These findings point to the need to maintain subsidy programs and encourage eligible families to take advantage of such resources.
Neighborhood deprivation plays an important role in childhood health and development, but definin... more Neighborhood deprivation plays an important role in childhood health and development, but defining the appropriate neighborhood definition presents theoretical as well as practical challenges. Few studies have compared neighborhood definitions outside of highly urbanized settings. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate how various administrative and ego-centric neighborhood definitions may impact measured exposure to deprivation across the urban-rural continuum. We do so using the Family Life Project, a prospective longitudinal population-based sample of families living in North Carolina and Pennsylvania (USA), which also sets the stage for future investigations of neighborhood impacts on childhood health and development. To measure neighborhood deprivation, a standardized index of socioeconomic deprivation was calculated using data from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey. Families’ residential addresses when children were 2 months of age (n=1036) were geocoded and ov...
Driven by our code of ethics and our call to reckon with our embeddedness within a white supremac... more Driven by our code of ethics and our call to reckon with our embeddedness within a white supremacist institution in the US South, the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work re-visioned our approach to the MSW curriculum. Using case study methods, we trace our history and on-going work through interviews, document review, and community conversations, centering student voices. Students interviewed spoke about activism prompted by racist events on campus and nationally, and the inadequate response from the administration. Their efforts led to school-wide initiatives including curriculum shifts and accountability and action. The first-year generalist course, Confronting Oppression and Institutional Discrimination was restructured and resituated. Critical Race Theory was infused across the coursework. Two new working groups were created: The Anti-Racism Task Force and Reconciliation Standing Committee. Efforts to address racism and white supremacy in academic spaces require sustained acti...
Prevention efforts, rapid rehousing, and housing-first approaches have been major contributors in... more Prevention efforts, rapid rehousing, and housing-first approaches have been major contributors in addressing homelessness. However, budget cuts may jeopardize these gains. The objective of this article is to use administrative data to examine an innovative new program’s ability to assist those experiencing homelessness to attain and retain permanent housing through asset building and access to financial services to build a more financially secure future. Results suggest that this program does foster savings and the attainment of permanent housing. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.
The Oxford Handbook of Poverty and Child Development, 2012
Children who live in poor rural communities have a somewhat different context for development fro... more Children who live in poor rural communities have a somewhat different context for development from urban children. Rural in comparison to urban communities have higher poverty rates; greater isolation from key services, such as schools and health care; and parents have more service related jobs with nonstandard work schedules. These factors are associated with poverty but also can add additional stress on rural family life that can contribute to more chaotic living conditions for young children, including disorganization, instability, and unpredictability. This chapter reviews the literature and presents data to support the view that chaos in rural communities may be greater than in urban areas and may be a particularly important mediator of the relationship between poverty and children's development. Data are presented from the Family Life Project to further support the link between poverty, chaos, and children's early development.
Places cannot be divorced from the people and things that act on them (Cummins et al. 2007; Macin... more Places cannot be divorced from the people and things that act on them (Cummins et al. 2007; Macintyre et al. 2002). Beyond this accepted statement, there is consid-erable debate on how place affects health, which effects matter, and how they should be measured. ...
Current trends have allowed some youth a lengthened transition to adulthood, in part because of d... more Current trends have allowed some youth a lengthened transition to adulthood, in part because of demographic shifts that delay the time until adolescents assume adult roles. Although these trends are well documented, less research has examined how this impacts vulnerable subgroups. Using a sample of predominantly White youth (ages 18-33) from the National Survey of Families and Households ( N = 1,517), this study traces the timing of critical events in emerging adulthood. Using survival analysis, results suggest poverty impacts youth experiences of home leaving, marriage, and parenthood. Low-income youth are at greater risk of early home leaving but less likely to leave after age 18. They are less likely to marry, though they have a greater risk of parenthood prior to age 25. Taken as whole, these outcomes can set youth up for negative trajectories throughout adulthood and may not allow poor youth the same opportunity for an extended period of emerging adulthood.
ABSTRACT Child care subsidy programs serve to reduce the number of families for whom child care i... more ABSTRACT Child care subsidy programs serve to reduce the number of families for whom child care is a barrier to work. Child care is essential to economic self-sufficiency, and it can also support child development, particularly for low-income children. However, most research has an urban focus so little is known about rural settings where formal programs are limited and of lower quality. In this paper we examine the subsidy use of rural families, the care arrangements they make, and the quality of care received. We utilized data collected between 2004 and 2007 from the Family Life Project, a representative, longitudinal study of non-metro families in low-wealth counties (n = 1,292), oversampled for low-income and African-American families. Families who used subsidies were more likely to select center-based care, typically of higher quality. Further, these families were also more likely to receive higher quality care, regardless of the type chosen, even after accounting for a host of family and community factors. Findings suggest that subsidy programs have successfully moved low-income children into higher quality care beneficial for development. These findings point to the need to maintain subsidy programs and encourage eligible families to take advantage of such resources.
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Papers by Allison De Marco