Theorising and Measuring Place in Neighbourhood Effects Research: The Example of Teenage Parenthood in England

Abstract

Government policies to reduce teenage parenthood are, in part, informed by a belief in neighbourhood effects, although the current evidence for neighbourhood effects on teenage parenthood is remarkably weak. This chapter highlights the conceptual problems in the existing research around the importance of place and geography. It critiques the fact that many studies search for general evidence for neighbourhood effects without formulating specific hypotheses about causal mechanisms, and often without detailed knowledge of the outcome in question. The chapter also critiques the lack of attention paid to the most appropriate spatial scale to study specific effects. Using data from the British Cohort Study (BCS70), a longitudinal study of people born in 1970, with postcode geo-coding of neighbourhood characteristics, the effects of several geographies on teenage parenthood are tested. The results suggested that place effects on values around fertility operate at a fine spatial scale. In conclusion, it may be impossible to separate the social processes leading to early parenthood from one another using quantitative methods and that neighbourhood effects research should move towards more explicit and transparent considerations of geography in order to make a stronger contribution to knowledge of place effects.