STRUCTURAL AND EXPERIENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEXTS, DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE, AND ANTISOCIAL-BEHAVIOR AMONG URBAN ADOLESCENTS IN POVERTY

This study explored the effects of structural and experiential neighbo rhood factors and developmental stage on antisocial behavior, among a sample of poor urban adolescents in New York City. Conceptually and em pirically distinct profiles of neighborhood experience were derived fr om the data, based on measures of perceived neighborhood cohesion, pov erty-related hassles, and involvement in neighborhood organizations an d activities. Both the profiles of neighborhood experience and a measu re of census-tract-level neighborhood hazard (poverty and violence) sh owed relationships to antisocial behavior. Contrary to expectation, hi gher levels of antisocial behavior were reported among adolescents res iding in moderate-structural-risk neighborhoods than those in high-str uctural-risk neighborhoods. This effect held only for teens in middle (not early) adolescence and was stronger for teens perceiving their ne ighborhoods as hassling than for those who did not. Implications for f uture research and preventive intervention are discussed.