U.S. Mexican-Origin Adolescents’ Well-Being in the Context of Neighborhood White Concentration

To address injustices that privilege whiter neighborhoods, many advocate for residential integration. The developmental consequences of greater exposure to whiteness associated with integration, however, are unclear. Research examining BIPOC adolescent development within the context of intraindividual changes in neighborhood white concentration—the changes that take place if an adolescent moves to a whiter neighborhood or if their neighborhood becomes whiter—is needed. We examined trajectories of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in a longitudinal sample of U.S. Mexican adolescents (N = 749; 48.9% girls; 70.2% born in the United States). When adolescents experienced an uptick in neighborhood white concentration, they experienced a corresponding uptick in externalizing symptoms. We discuss the impacts of navigating whiter neighborhoods for U.S. Mexican adolescent well-being.