Although our society has made substantial investments in research and programs based on the idea that communities affect families and children, significant questions have emerged about the validity of the link between communities, children, and families. This book, presented in four sections, focuses on how communities undergird or undermine human development, how neighborhoods enhance or interfere with family functioning, how neighborhoods affect the development of adolescent problem behavior, and policies and approaches to strengthen neighborhoods as contexts for child and adolescent well-being. The chapters are: (1) "How Do Communities Undergird or Undermine Human Development? Relevant Contexts and Social Mechanisms" (Robert J. Sampson); (2) "Taking Neighborhoods Seriously" (Barrett A. Lee); (3) "The Prodigal Paradigm Returns: Ecology Comes Back to Sociology" (Douglas Massey); (4) "Resiliency and Fragility Factors Associated with the Contextual Experiences of Low-Resource Urban African-American Male Youth and Families" (Margaret Beale Spencer); (5) "Context and Meaning in Neighborhood Studies of Children and Families" (Jill E. Korbin); (6) "Issues in the Analysis of Neighborhoods, Families, and Children" (Scott J. South); (7) "Hyperghettos and Hypermasculinity: The Phenomenology of Exclusion" (Mercer L. Sullivan); (8) "Neighborhoods and Adolescent Development: How Can We Determine the Links?" (Greg J. Duncan and Stephen W. Raudenbush) (9) "Better Ways To Do Contextual Analysis: Lessons from Duncan and Raudenbush" (John O. G. Billy); (10) "One Step Forward and Two Steps Back: Neighborhoods, Adolescent Development, and Unmeasured Variables" (Linda M. Burton); (11) "Communities as Systems: Is a Community More Than the Sum of Its Parts?" (Stephen Small and Andrew Supple); (12) "Community Approaches to Improving Outcomes for Urban Children, Youth, and Families: Current Trends and Future Directions" (James P. Connell and Anne C. Kubisch); (13) "On Mount and Fayette: Implications for Comprehensive Youth Development Approaches" (Ralph B. Taylor); (14) "Developmental and Ecological Considerations in Implementing Community Action Strategies for Children and Youth" (Mark Greenberg); (15) "Community Approaches to Improving Outcomes for Urban Children, Youth, and Families" (Dale A. Blyth); and (16) "Neighborhood Effects on Child and Adolescent Development: Assessing Today's Knowledge for Tomorrow's Villages" (Frank Avenilla and Susan Singley). (Each chapter contains references.) (KB)