How Profoundly Does Neighborhood Poverty Endanger the Well-Being & Development of Children & Adolescents?

Research Design Associates scientists collaborated with colleagues at Columbia University, Emory University, and Northwestern University in a longitudinal study of African American early adolescents in Atlanta, Baltimore, New York City, and Washington, D.C.

We measured the effects of individual and family demographics, measures of neighborhood risk such as family economic status, and identity measures such as self-esteem and racial identity on the extent of behavior problems. The results indicated that neighborhood and family factors predicted risk and resilience in African American and white children.

Longitudinal Design

Spencer, M.B, Cole, S.P., Jones, S.M., and Swanson, D.P. (1997). Neighborhood and family influences on young urban adolescents’ behavior problems: A multisample, multisite analysis. In Neighborhood Poverty: Context and Consequences for Children, edited by J. Brooks-Gunn, G.J. Duncan, and J.L. Aber, Russell Sage Foundation.