Brazil Noli, Candipan Jennifer
Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA USA.
Department of Sociology, Brown University, Providence, RI USA.
Popul Res Policy Rev. 2025;44(3):32. doi: 10.1007/s11113-025-09954-2. Epub 2025 May 12.
As young adults, the Millennial generation emerged as the largest and most racially and ethnically diverse generation in U.S. history. These unique demographic characteristics, along with more progressive self-reported views on racial and ethnic issues, prompted some to label this generation as a demographic bridge to America's diverse future. This article examines whether these unique characteristics translate into greater neighborhood racial diversity and integration. Specifically, this study sets out to answer whether the neighborhoods where Millennial young adults live are more racially and ethnically diverse and situated in less segregated metropolitan areas than those where young adults from prior generations resided. Using 1990-2020 Census data, we find that young adult Millennials are living in less segregated neighborhoods than their counterparts from previous generations. This pattern holds whether examining the segregation of White young adults from the total population or restricting the analysis to segregation solely among young adults. We further find that a greater presence of White young adult Millennials is positively associated with neighborhood diversity. However, our decomposition analysis, which disaggregates segregation to the agegroup level, suggests that increased uneven sorting among Late Millennial young adults is also driving racial imbalances within neighborhoods among younger and older age groups.
作为年轻成年人，千禧一代成为美国历史上规模最大、种族和族裔最多样化的一代。这些独特的人口特征，以及在种族和族裔问题上更进步的自我报告观点，促使一些人将这代人视为通向美国多元未来的人口桥梁。本文探讨这些独特特征是否转化为更大的邻里种族多样性和融合。具体而言，本研究旨在回答千禧一代年轻成年人居住的社区在种族和族裔上是否比前几代年轻成年人居住的社区更加多样化，且所处的大都市区隔离程度更低。利用1990 - 2020年人口普查数据，我们发现千禧一代年轻成年人居住的社区隔离程度低于前几代人。无论考察白人年轻成年人与总人口的隔离情况，还是将分析仅限于年轻成年人之间的隔离，这种模式都成立。我们还发现，白人千禧一代年轻成年人的更多存在与邻里多样性呈正相关。然而，我们将隔离分解到年龄组层面的分解分析表明，千禧一代后期年轻成年人中日益增加的不均衡分类也在推动邻里中年轻和年长年龄组之间的种族失衡。
