The Long-Term Effects of Childhood Poverty in Adult’s SES Attainment. How Important Is the Neighborhood? (Sweden, 1947-2015)

This article studies the consequences of adult income resulting from exposure to poverty at the neighbourhood and family levels for children aged 1-17 in Southern Sweden from 1947 to 1967. We used geocoded information at the address level to identify k-neighbourhoods of various sizes and applied both relative and absolute poverty measurements, all yielding similar results. Moreover, our longitudinal data allowed for consecutive observations of individuals during childhood, enabling the capture of cumulative aspects of poverty exposure. Among our main findings, we identified that poverty in neighbourhoods had an independent association, even after accounting for familial poverty experience. This association appeared to be more substantial for men at younger ages, especially from 1 to 6, where ever living in a considered poor neighbourhood had a clear negative impact on adult income. However, for women, the general increase in university education attainment seemed to have neutralised any neighbourhood effect. The role played by neighbourhood poverty remained constant over time and across cohorts, even though our observational period coincided with the first expansion of the Swedish welfare estate.