Abstract
National-level statistics often mask extreme spatial differentiation in child poverty. Using county-level data from the 1990 US decennial census summary tape file, we show that child poverty is distributed unevenly over geographic space. Child poverty is concentrated in counties in Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, and the southern ‘black belt’. Child poverty rates are strongly influenced by the local industrial composition (e.g., agriculture and manufacturing), but the effects are largely indirect, operating primarily through reduced employment opportunities among adult workers. High county unemployment and underemployment rates contribute directly to children's economic deprivation, as well as indirectly by undermining the formation and stability of two-parent families. Our results highlight existing spatial differentiation and inequality in children's economic well-being, and provide a point of departure for additional research on the geography of child poverty.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bane, M.J. & Ellwood, D.T. (1989). One fifth of the nation's children: Why are they poor?, Science245: 1047–1053.
Bianchi, S.M. (1990). America's children: Mixed prospects, Population Bulletin45: 1–43.
Bianchi, S. & McArthur, E. (1991). Family disruption and economic hardship: The shortrun picture for children. US Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P70, No. 23, Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Bloomquist, L. & Summers, G. (1982). Organization of production and community income distribution, American Sociological Review47: 325–338.
Bluestone, B. & Harrison, B. (1982). The deindustrialization of America. New York: Basic Books.
Children's Defense Fund (1991). The state of America's children 1991. Washington, DC: Children's Defense Fund.
Clogg, C.C. & Eliason, S.R. (1986). On regression standardization for moments, Sociological Methods and Research14: 423–466.
Colclough, G. (1988). Uneven development and racial composition in the deep South, Rural Sociology53: 73–86.
Conger, R.D., et al. (1990). Linking economic hardship to marital quality and instability, Journal of Marriage and the Family52: 643–656.
Corbett, T. (1993). Child poverty and welfare reform: Progress or paralysis?, Focus15: 1–17.
Easterlin, R.A. (1987). The new age structure of poverty in America: Permanent or transient?, Population and Development Review13: 195–207.
Eggebeen, D.J. & Lichter, D.T. (1991). Race, family structure, and changing poverty among American children, American Sociological Review56: 801–817.
Eggers, M.L. & Massey, D.S. (1991). The structural determinants of urban poverty: A comparison of whites, blacks, and Hispanics, Social Science Research20: 217–255.
Falk, W. & Lyson, T.A. (1993). Forgotten places redux, pp. 257–270, in: T.A. Lyson & W.W. Falk (eds.), Forgotten places: Uneven development in rural America. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Frey,W.H. (1995). The new geography of population trends: Trends toward balkanization, pp. 271–336, in: R. Farley (ed.), State of the union: America in the 1990s, Vol. 2. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Fuguitt, G.V., Brown, D.L. & Beale, C.L. (1989). Rural and small town America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Hernandez, D.J. (1994). The historical transformation of childhood, children statistics, and social policy. Unpublished manuscript.
Hogan, D.P. & Lichter, D.T. (1995). Children and youth: Living arrangements and welfare, pp. 93–140, in: R. Farley (ed.), State of the Union: Vol. 2. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Jensen, L.F. & Tienda, M. (1989). Nonmetropolitan minority families in the United States: Trends in racial and ethnic stratification, 1959–1986, Rural Sociology54: 509–532.
Lichter, D.T. (1993). Migration, population redistribution, and the new spatial inequality, pp. 19–46, in: D. Brown, D. Field & Z. Zuiches (eds.), The demography of rural life. University Park, PA: Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development.
Lichter, D.T. & Costanzo, J.A. (1987). Nonmetropolitan underemployment and laborforce composition, Rural Sociology52: 329–344.
Lichter, D.T. & Eggebeen, D.J. (1992). Child poverty and the changing rural family, Rural Sociology57: 151–172.
Lichter, D.T., Johnston, G.M. & McLaughlin, D.K. (1994). Changing linkages between work and poverty in rural America, Rural Sociology59: 394–415.
Lichter, D.T. & Landry, D.J. (1991). Labor force transitions and underemployment: the stratification of male and female workers, pp. 63–87, in: R. Althauser & M. Wallace (eds.), Research in social stratification and mobilliy, Vol. 10. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Lichter, D.T. & McLaughlin, D.K. (1995). Changing economic opportunities, family structure, and poverty in rural areas, Rural Sociology60: 688–706.
Madden, J.F. (1996). Changes in the distribution of poverty across and within metropolitan areas: 1979–89, Urban Affairs Reviewforthcoming.
McLaughlin, D.K. & Perman, L. (1991). Returns vs endowments in the earnings attainment process for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan men and women, Rural Sociology56: 339–365.
Reif, L. (1987). Farm structure, industry structure, and socioeconomic conditions in the US, Rural Sociology52: 462–482.
Rexroat, C. (1989). Economic transformation, family structure, and poverty rates of black children in metropolitan areas, American Economic Review79: 67–70.
Ruggles, P. (1990). Drawing the line: Alternative poverty measures and their implications for public policy. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press.
Stafford, M.T. & Fossett, M.A. (1989). Occupational sex inequality in the nonmetropolitan South, 1960–1980, Rural Sociology54: 169–194.
Tickamyer, A.R. & Duncan, C.M. (1990). Poverty and opportunity structure in rural America, Annual Review of Sociology16: 67–86.
Tickamyer, A.R. & Tickamyer, C.H. (1988). Gender and poverty in central Appalacha, Social Science Quarterly69: 874–891.
Tigges, L.M. (1987). Changing fortunes: Industrial sectors and workers’ earnings. New York: Praeger.
Tigges, I.M. & Tootle, D.M. (1993). Underemployment and racial competition in local labor markets, Sociological Quarterly34: 279–298.
Tomaskovic-Devey, D. (1987). Labor markets, industrial structure, and poverty: A theoretical discussion and empirical example, Rural Sociology52: 56–74.
US Bureau of the Census (1991). Census of population and housing, 1990: Summary tape file 3 technical documentation. Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce.
US Bureau of the Census (1993). Poverty in the United States: 1992. Current Population Reports, SeriesP60185.Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce.
Weinberg, D.H. (1987). Rural pockets of poverty, Rural Sociology52: 398–408.
Wilson, W.J. (1987). The truly disadvantaged: The inner city, the underclass, and public policy.Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Friedman, S., Lichter, D.T. Spatial inequality and poverty among American children. Population Research and Policy Review 17, 91–109 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005740205017
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005740205017