Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Study (LAFANS) (Printer-Friendly Format)

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Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Study (LAFANS)

General Information

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Evaluator(s)	RAND
Investigator(s)	Anne Pebley (RAND)
Sponsor(s)	RAND
Funder(s)	National Institute of Child Health and Development
Subcontractor(s)	Not applicable

Domain	Income Security/TANF Child/Family Community/Neighborhood
Status	Operational with Findings
Duration	Mar 2000 - Mar 2003
Type	Research and/or Program Evaluation Policy Analysis
Goal	To answer key research and policy questions regarding: 1) neighborhood, family, and peer effects on children's development; 2) effects of welfare reform at the neighborhood level; and 3) residential mobility and neighborhood change.
Program/Policy Description	N/A
Notes	Visit the project web site. LAFANS produces a public use dataset and documentation that is available to all researchers.

Last Updated	08/23/04
Type of Summary	Reviewed
External Reviewer(s)	Anne Pebley (RAND)
Contact(s)	Anne Pebley (Anne_Pebley@rand.org) RAND 1700 Main Street PO Box 2138 (T) (310) 393-0411 (F) (310) 451-7002
Publications Department	RAND Publications (Judy_Lewis@rand.org) RAND PO Box 2138 (T) (310) 393-0411, etx. 7286 (F) not reported
Submitter(s)	Research Forum Staff (info@researchforum.org) National Center for Children In Poverty 215 West 125th St, 3rd Fl (T) (646)284-9600 (F) not reported

Populations Studied

Target Population	Children Low-income households Neighborhoods
Subgroups Analyzed	Single parent families Two-parent families Children 1-6 Social/Community service agencies Caseworkers/managers/administrators Teachers Children younger than 1 (infants) Children 7-18 Neighborhood key informants
Sample Size and Unit	Random stratified sample of 65 neighborhoods in Los Angeles county. 3250 households (50 households per neighborhood) in wave 1 (approximately 6,000 children and teens ages 0 to 18). One adult, 1 child under 18, and child’s mother (if different from adult) randomly selected from each household. Households with children under 18 and poorer households are oversampled. Waves 2 and 3 include total sample in wave 1 plus new entrants into neighborhood.

Sites Studied

65 neighborhoods in Los Angeles County, California

Program Components, Policies, and Activities Evaluated

Social/Support services

Child care
Social/Support Services - misc.

Employment activities

Employment Activities - misc.

Educational activities

Educational Activities - misc.

Eligibility

Eligibility - misc.

Child support

Child support - misc.

Food stamps

Food Stamps - misc.

Post-Program activities

Post-Program Activities- misc.

Housing

Housing - misc.

Variation in program components across sites?	Yes
Notes on program components	Social/Support Services: Neighborhood characteristics, such as crime, resident turnover, business environment, social service environment, and general conditions were studied.

Outcomes Assessed

Income security

Earnings
Food stamps receipt
Medicaid receipt
Welfare receipt
Income security - misc.
Unemployment Insurance (UI) receipt

Family and relationship outcomes

Family formation and stability/Living arrangements
Family and relationship outcomes - misc.

Adult outcomes

Emotional well-being
Health/ physical well-being (including prenatal health)
Social functioning/social relationships
Planning for future
Adult outcomes - misc.

Housing

Residential mobility
Housing - misc.

Standard of living

Standard of living - misc.

Service utilization

Service utilization - misc.

Employment

Employment - misc.

Education

Education - misc.

Community Outcomes

Community economic development (e.g. labor market outcomes)
Community Outcomes - misc.
Community interpersonal relationships (“neighborhood effects”)
Community poverty rates
Community safety (e.g. crime rates and/or general perceptions of safety)
Distribution of community services (equity)
Reaction of low-poverty neighborhoods to entry of high-poverty voucher recipients
School quality (e.g. SAT scores)

Substance abuse

Substance abuse - misc.

Benefit termination

Benefit Termination-misc.

Caseload Dynamics

Caseload dynamics - misc.

Child Outcomes

Child social/emotional/behavioral outcomes
Child cognitive (attention, problem solving, memory, language, and vocabulary) outcomes
Child academic outcomes
Child overall development
Child mental/physical health outcomes

Types of Studies

Type	Longitudinal/Prospective Study
Aim	To answer questions about effects of neighborhood, family, and peer effects on children’s development; the effects of welfare reform at the neighborhood level; and residential mobility and neighborhood change.

Data Sources

Source	Administrative data
Title	Neighborhood administrative data
Sample Characteristics/Data Collection	Data regarding welfare receipt from 65 neighborhoods in Los Angeles, CA
Sites	65 neighborhoods in Los Angeles, CA
Response Rate/Attrition Notes	Not yet available.
Additional Execution Notes	N/A

Source	Developmental assessments/screenings
Title	Child cognitive assessments
Sample Characteristics/Data Collection	Adults and children in 3250 households (50 households per neighborhood). One adult, 1 child under 18, and child’s mother (if different from adult) randomly selected from each household. Data collected beginning March 2000, 2002, and 2004.
Sites	65 neighborhoods in Los Angeles, CA
Response Rate/Attrition Notes	Not yet available.
Additional Execution Notes	Cognitive assessments will be administered to sampled children age 3 and older. Children age 9 and older will be asked questions about educational attainment, friends, and social interaction. Children age 12 and older will be asked about employment, school, and families and neighborhoods.

Source	Interview
Title	Neighborhood key informant interview
Sample Characteristics/Data Collection	Key informants (school officials, teachers, librarians, local police, religious leaders, and small business owners) and social service (public and private) providers. Data collected 2000, 2002, and 2004.
Sites	65 neighborhoods in Los Angeles, CA
Response Rate/Attrition Notes	Not yet available.
Additional Execution Notes	Informants will be asked about neighborhood conditions and changes, business and social service environment, crime, and other neighborhood problems.

Source	Survey
Title	Household survey
Sample Characteristics/Data Collection	Adults and children in 3250 households (50 households per neighborhood). One adult, 1 child under 18, and child’s mother (if different from adult) randomly selected from each household. Data collected beginning March 2000, 2002, and 2004.
Sites	65 neighborhoods in Los Angeles, CA
Response Rate/Attrition Notes	Not yet available.
Additional Execution Notes	All adults and children will be re-interviewed regardless of whether they still live in the same neighborhood. In addition, new entrants into the neighborhood will be interviewed in follow-up surveys. Adults will be asked questions about household composition, income security, use of social programs, education, employment and residential history. Mothers of children will be asked about home environment and child’s behavior, academic, health, and social characteristics.

Findings Available

Interim Descriptive/Analytical Findings

Findings

10/01/02: Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey: In Our Backyard: How 3 L.A. Neighborhoods Affect Kids' Lives

Interim Descriptive/Analytical Findings:

Low family income and a high level of family conflict are both related to higher levels of problem behaviors for children.

Regardless of family characteristics, living in a particular neighborhood has an effect on a child’s behavior.

Results show that the effects of family characteristics themselves differ by neighborhood.

Parents who report that their neighborhood is very safe or fairly safe are more likely to perceive their children to be in good health.

Differences in family income among the three neighborhoods appear to account for all of the differences in children’s school performance.

09/01/03: Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Study (LAFANS): Los Angeles County Young Children's Literacy Experiences, Emotional Well-Being and Skills Acquisition: Results from the Los Angeles Family and Nei

Children living in the poorest neighborhoods have the lowest levels of school readiness on multiple dimensions. Despite efforts of their parents, many of these children have more limited access to books and adults who read to them, are more likely to have mothers with lower literacy levels, have somewhat more behavior problems, and lower language and math scores than other children.
Within poorer neighborhoods, the most disadvantaged children are likely to be those whose mothers did not go beyond high school and have poorer reading skills themselves.
On some measures, girls and immigrant children, and Latino children are also less ready for school.

04/01/03: Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey: Neighborhood and Family Effects on Children's Health in Los Angeles

Despite the emphasis in the social epidemiology literature on the effects of poor neighborhoods on health, our results show that neighborhood effects on health outcomes are generally small once measured and unmeasured family characteristics are taken into account.
The concentration of immigrants in a neighborhood is associated with higher rates of overweight and obesity among adolescents.
As many previous studies have shown, ethnicity is an important determinant for many of the health outcomes we investigated.
Immigrant status is also an important factor for many of the health outcomes examined.
The results for overweight indicate that maternal BMI is, not surprisingly, a very important determinant of children’s weight status.

Recommendations

Existing Publications

10/01/02	Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey: In Our Backyard: How 3 L.A. Neighborhoods Affect Kids' Lives	RAND
11/01/00	Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey: The Design of a Multilevel Longitudinal Survey of Children, Families, and Communities: The Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey	RAND
01/01/01	Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey: Spatial Inequality, Neighborhood Mobility, and Residential Segregation	RAND
01/01/00	Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey: Inequality and Health Status in Los Angeles	RAND
05/01/02	Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey: Residential Tipping in a Multiethnic World	RAND
05/01/02	Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey: Neighborhood Definitions and the Spatial Dimensions of Daily Life in Los Angeles	RAND
05/01/02	Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey: Socioeconomic Differentials in Health Outcomes and Health Behavior in Los Angeles	RAND
06/01/03	Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey: The Design of a Multilevel Survey of Children, Families, and Communities: The Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey	RAND
02/01/03	Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey: Non-Response in the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey	RAND
04/01/03	Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey: Neighborhood and Family Effects on Children's Health in Los Angeles	RAND