ERIC Number: EJ952990
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Nov
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0012-1649
EISSN: N/A
Changes in Neighborhood Poverty from 1990 to 2000 and Youth's Problem Behaviors
Leventhal, Tama; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
Developmental Psychology, v47 n6 p1680-1698 Nov 2011
This study used data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, a multilevel, longitudinal study of children sampled from 80 diverse neighborhoods, to explore associations among changes in neighborhood poverty from 1990 to 2000 and changes in youth's internalizing problems and property and violent offenses over 6 years (N = 3,324; mean age across waves = 12.6 years). After accounting for a host of background characteristics and weighting for the propensity to stay in the original sampled neighborhood, results indicated that neighborhood poverty dynamics were unfavorably linked to boys' problem behaviors. In high-poverty (greater than 30% in 1990) neighborhoods, decreasing poverty was associated with boys' greater internalizing problems and higher probability of increasing in violent behavior than stable neighborhood poverty. In moderate-poverty (20%-30% in 1990) neighborhoods, boys in neighborhoods that got poorer had more internalizing problems than boys in stably poor neighborhoods. Likewise, in low-poverty (less than 20% in 1990) neighborhoods, increasing poverty was associated with boys' higher probability of increasing in violent behavior than stable neighborhood poverty. Effect sizes were larger in high- and moderate-poverty neighborhoods than in low-poverty neighborhoods. This study complements the neighborhood mobility literature and has implications for interventions aimed at community revitalization. (Contains 6 tables, 2 footnotes and 4 figures.)
Descriptors: Neighborhoods, Violence, Poverty, Effect Size, Probability, Males, Longitudinal Studies, Correlation, Youth, Behavior Problems, Sampling, Intervention, Community Change
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Illinois
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A