Moving Out of Drug-Plagued Neighborhoods Helps Girls, Not Boys

A study of families who fled drug- and crime-infested neighborhoods for more stable shores found that the move tended to help the female children but not the boys, the Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 28.

Federal policy has supported such moves to help fight poverty, providing housing vouchers that give poor people more choices about where they want to live. About 2 million families use Section 8 vouchers that subsidize rents, and federal officials also have shut down big urban housing projects and dispersed residents.

In a federal study started in 1994, families who received vouchers were compared to those that stayed in high-poverty neighborhoods. Researchers found that adults who moved felt better physically and mentally, but did not fare better financially. Girls who moved also did better than those who stayed, but boys fared worse than those left behind. For example, 83 percent of relocated girls either stayed in high school or graduated, compared to 71 percent of those who didn't move.

But school participation declined among teenage boys who relocated, and property crime, mental stress, and smoking increased. "It seems like the boys were less able to make social connections to their new areas," said Jeffrey Kling, a Brookings Institution economist.

Experts said some families had problems because they didn't move far enough away from their old neighborhoods -- allowing children to go back and hang out with their old friends -- or didn't get into an area with better schools.