Neighborhood poverty, family characteristics, and commitment to mainstream goals - The case of African American adolescents in the inner city

A causal model is used to understand the direct and mediated effects of neighborhood disadvantage and family structure on youth expectations. Using data obtained from face-to-face interviews with African American mothers and their children, we demonstrate that the employment expectations of adolescents are significantly lower in both nonintact and welfare homes in comparison to youth in other households. In addition, neighborhood disadvantage is shown to be indirectly related to reduced expectation by exposing youth to nonnormative peers. The findings have important implications for social policy, especially in light of the recent welfare reforms that place considerable emphasis on a work requirement for single mothers.