The declining significance of neighborhoods? Marital transitions in community context

Recent theories addressing the impact of neighborhood socioeconomic status on family formation are integrated with a broader theoretical literature sp ecifying the conditions under which local neighborhood conditions influence social behavior in order to develop hypotheses relating neighborhood disad vantage to the timing of first marriage. Event-history analyses of data fro m the Panel Study of Income Dynamics for 1969-93 show that, among whites, r esiding in a disadvantaged neighborhood hastens the entry into first marria ge, while among blacks, neighborhood disadvantage delays marital entry. Amo ng whites the positive impact of neighborhood disadvantage on marriage prob abilities declines with age. Among blacks, the inverse effect-of neighborho od disadvantage on marital timing declines with length of residence in the neighborhood. Only among white males does the impact of neighborhood socioe conomic disadvantage decline significantly between 1969 and 1993. Moreover, for white males, the effect of neighborhood SES is weaker for metropolitan than for nonmetropolitan residents and is stronger for long-term than for short-term neighborhood residents.