Mothers with Justice-involved Sons: Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 by Neighborhood Disorder in the United States

Women, particularly mothers, have faced disparate socioeconomic consequences throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Research has yet to examine whether the consequences of the pandemic vary based on the level of neighborhood disorder, which is associated with various health conditions, including COVID-19 complications. The present study utilizes data from a diverse sample of 221 women with justice-involved sons interviewed during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Negative binominal and logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine whether perceived neighborhood social disorder is related to socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether the relation varies for mothers with and without children in their home during the pandemic. The results suggest that greater perceived neighborhood social disorder was associated with increased in COVID-19-related socioeconomic consequences. Neighborhood social disorder affected socioeconomic impacts above and beyond the effects of having a child living in the home. Additionally, Latinas experienced greater socioeconomic impacts than women of other races and ethnicities. The results indicate a key relationship between the neighborhood conditions a woman lives in and the extent of the socioeconomic consequences they faced during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Future directions and direct implications of the study findings are discussed.