Neighborhood Disadvantage, Parent–Child Conflict, Neighborhood Peer Relationships, and Early Antisocial Behavior Problem Trajectories

  This study examined relations among neighborhood disadvantage, parent–child conflict, deviant peer involvement in the neighborhood, and early-starting antisocial trajectories. Antisocial group patterns were identified in 218 low-income boys followed from ages 5 to 11, and neighborhood and family variables were evaluated as predictors in early and middle childhood. Four trajectory groups emerged: one increasing pattern that corresponded with developmental theories of early-starting antisocial behavior; one with initially high and decreasing problems over time; and two low antisocial groups. Parent–child conflict and neighborhood disadvantage were significantly associated with trajectory patterns, with youth in the 2 higher antisocial behavior groups characterized by more neighborhood problems and parent–child conflict than other groups. The results suggest that in early childhood, neighborhood disadvantage and family conflict place children at risk for early-starting trajectories, and that involvement with deviant peers in the neighborhood takes on an increasingly important role in patterns of antisocial behavior over middle childhood.     

Neighborhood disadvantage, parent-child conflict, neighborhood peer relationships, and early antisocial behavior problem trajectories

This study examined relations among neighborhood disadvantage, parent-child conflict, deviant peer involvement in the neighborhood, and early-starting antisocial trajectories. Antisocial group patterns were identified in 218 low-income boys followed from ages 5 to 11, and neighborhood and family variables were evaluated as predictors in early and middle childhood. Four trajectory groups emerged: one increasing pattern that corresponded with developmental theories of early-starting antisocial behavior; one with initially high and decreasing problems over time; and two low antisocial groups. Parent-child conflict and neighborhood disadvantage were significantly associated with trajectory patterns, with youth in the 2 higher antisocial behavior groups characterized by more neighborhood problems and parent-child conflict than other groups. The results suggest that in early childhood, neighborhood disadvantage and family conflict place children at risk for early-starting trajectories, and that involvement with deviant peers in the neighborhood takes on an increasingly important role in patterns of antisocial behavior over middle childhood.     

Beyond family‐level adversities: Exploring the developmental timing of neighborhood disadvantage effects on the brain

A growing literature suggests that adversity is associated with later altered brain function, particularly within the corticolimbic system that supports emotion processing and salience detection (e.g., amygdala, prefrontal cortex [PFC]). Although neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage has been shown to predict maladaptive behavioral outcomes, particularly for boys, most of the research linking adversity to corticolimbic function has focused on family‐level adversities. Moreover, although animal models and studies of normative brain development suggest that there may be sensitive periods during which adversity exerts stronger effects on corticolimbic development, little prospective evidence exists in humans. Using two low‐income samples of boys (n = 167; n = 77), Census‐derived neighborhood disadvantage during early childhood, but not adolescence, was uniquely associated with greater amygdala, but not PFC, reactivity to ambiguous neutral faces in adolescence and young adulthood. These associations remained after accounting for several family‐level adversities (e.g., low family income, harsh parenting), highlighting the independent and developmentally specific neural effects of the neighborhood context. Furthermore, in both samples, indicators measuring income and poverty status of neighbors were predictive of amygdala function, suggesting that neighborhood economic resources may be critical to brain development.     

How Does the Neighborhood “Come through the Door?” Concentrated Disadvantage,Residential Instability,and the Home Environment for Preschoolers

Living in a disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with heightened risk for poor school readiness and health outcomes in early childhood, and the home environment is thought to be a primary mechanism by which neighborhood context impacts preschoolers. This study examined the effects of neighborhood concentrated disadvantage and neighborhood residential instability on the home physical environment and home learning environment for preschoolers in economically disadvantaged families (N = 187). Using structural equation modeling, mothers' perceived neighborhood disorder and depressive symptoms were examined as mechanisms by which neighborhood context “comes through the door.” Mothers' neighborhood social embeddedness was also explored as a protective factor. Results showed that concentrated disadvantage was negatively associated with the quality of the home physical environment, and residential instability was negatively associated with the quality of the home learning environment. Concentrated disadvantage had an indirect effect on the home learning environment through mothers' perceived neighborhood disorder and depressive symptoms. The effects of concentrated disadvantage on the home environment were buffered by mothers' neighborhood social embeddedness. Study findings advance understanding of socioeconomic‐ and place‐based disparities in developmental outcomes and identify potential targets for interventions aimed at lessening effects of neighborhood disadvantage on families with young children.     

Adolescent Substance Use: Preliminary Examinations of School and Neighborhood Context

In considering the influences of microsystems on adolescent substance use, familial and peer contexts have received the most extensive attention in the research literature. School and neighborhood settings, however, are other developmental contexts that may exert specific influences on adolescent substance use. In many instances, school settings are organized to provide educational services to students who share similar educational abilities and behavioral repertoires. The resulting segregation of students into these settings may result in different school norms for substance use. Similarly, neighborhood resources, including models for substance use and drug sales involvement, may play an important role in adolescent substance use. We briefly review literature examining contextual influences on adolescent substance use, and present results from two preliminary studies examining the contribution of school and neighborhood context to adolescent substance use. In the first investigation, we examine the impact of familial, peer, and school contexts on adolescent substance use. Respondents were 283 students (ages 13 to 18) from regular and special education classrooms in six schools. Although peer and parental contexts were important predictors of substance use, school norms for drug use accounted for variance in adolescent use beyond that explained by peer and parental norms. Data from a second study of 114 adolescents (mean age = 15) examines neighborhood contributions to adolescent substance use. In this sample, neighborhood indices did not contribute to our understanding of adolescent substance use. Implications for prevention are presented.     

Commentary: causal processes leading to antisocial behavior

Conceptual, and empirical, questions are raised regarding the notion that physical aggression is the main individual risk factor for antisocial behavior, that language impairment also constitutes a risk factor, the meaning of the male preponderance for antisocial behavior, the findings on environmentally mediated risk; the role of biosocial interplay; social context effects; the construct of antisocial behavior, developmental trends; processing of experiences; and transactional effects. The main blocks to using research to develop policy are the lack of evidence on (a) the mediators of the causal processes, (b) what is needed to bring about change, (c) ways to ensure that individuals who need interventions actually receive them, and (d) differences in levels of antisocial behavior.     

Is Neighborhood Context Differently Related to Externalizing Problems and Delinquency for Girls Compared with Boys?

Although a number of reviews of gender differences in conduct problems and delinquency exist, this paper fills a gap in reviewing neighborhood influences on gender differences in conduct problems and delinquency. These influences are known to be important for boys in childhood and adolescence, but cannot be assumed to be influential in the same manner for girls. The paper starts with several conceptualizations of the association between gender, neighborhoods and juvenile delinquency. It then addresses 4 key questions. Is residing in a disadvantaged neighborhood associated with problem behavior in girls? Are neighborhood effects independent of girls' age? Are girls in disadvantaged neighborhoods exposed to more risk factors than girls in advantaged neighborhoods? Can mediating risk factors explain gender differences in neighborhood effects on children's and adolescents' conduct problems and delinquent behavior? Answers to these questions are important to steer research and elucidate aspects of interventions that can be optimized for girls.     

The action model of relationship security: How one's own behavior shapes confidence in partners' care,regard, and commitment

The authors present and test the action model of relationship security, which predicts that people's behavior toward a relationship partner shapes their security regarding that partner's care, regard, and commitment. Specifically, actors who enact prosocial or antisocial behavior develop corresponding prosocial or antisocial metaperceptions (i.e., they believe they are viewed as prosocial or antisocial by their partner). In turn, these metaperceptions have a strong influence on actors' security in their partner's care, regard, and commitment due to lay theories positing that prosocial and antisocial behavior impacts others' sentiments. Four studies supported this model. Moreover, findings suggest that prosocial metaperceptions buffer the harmful effects of attachment anxiety on relationship security. This research suggests the relevance of own behavior for relationship security.     

The Relative Contribution of Sibling Deviance and Peer Deviance in the Prediction of Substance Use Across Middle Childhood

This study investigated the quality of sibling relationships and sibling deviancy in a sample of children at-risk for substance use and antisocial behavior. Based on a history of empirical and theoretical models suggesting strong associations between children's development in the context of relationships and the emergence of delinquency and drug use, this research extends previous efforts by including sibling relationships in this developmental model, linking siblings with later substance use. Sibling relationship quality as well as peer deviance were examined using a multirater, multimethod assessment procedure. We tested 3 constructs (deviancy, warmth, and conflict) related to sibling behavior. Only sibling deviance and peer deviance directly predicted substance use. When both sibling deviance and peer deviance were examined as predictors of changes in substance use over time, only sibling deviance was significant. Implications for the development of substance use behavior in middle childhood are discussed.     

Children and youth in neighborhood contexts

Neighborhoods are increasingly studied as a context where children and youth develop; however, the extent of neighborhoods' impact remains debatable because it is difficult to disentangle this impact from that of the family context, in part because families have some choice as to where they live. Evidence from randomized experiments, studies using advanced statistical models, and longitudinal studies that control for family characteristics indicates that neighborhoods do matter. In nonexperimental studies, small to moderate associations were found, suggesting that children and adolescents living in high-income neighborhoods had higher cognitive ability and school achievement than those living in middle-income neighborhoods, and children and adolescents living in low-income neighborhoods had more mental and physical health problems than those living in middle-income neighborhoods. The home environment has been shown to be partly responsible for the link between neighborhood and children's development. For adolescents, neighborhood effects are partially accounted for by community social control. Experimental studies in which families were randomly assigned to move to low-poverty neighborhoods from housing projects found larger neighborhood effects than nonexperi-mental research, particularly for boys' outcomes. Additional issues reviewed are relevant neighborhood characteristics, theoretical models explaining the pathways underlying neighborhood effects, methods for research assessing neighborhood processes, and policy implications.     

Overt and Covert Dimensions of Antisocial Behavior in Early Childhood

The present study was designed to assess both the prevalence and structure of antisocial behavior in a normative sample of preschoolers. Prevalence estimates suggested that 40% of preschoolers exhibit at least one antisocial behavior each day. Furthermore, 10% of preschoolers exhibit six or more antisocial behaviors each day. Consistent with research based on older children, factor analyses provided support for conceptualizing antisocial behavior in early childhood as consisting of both overt and covert dimensions. While both overt and covert behaviors had acceptable test–retest reliability, only overt behaviors had acceptable interrater reliability. Finally both overt and covert dimensions of antisocial behavior were uniquely related to general measures of conduct problems, hyperactivity, and adult and peer conflict in the classroom setting. Findings are discussed with regard to early assessment and the developmental course of antisocial behavior.     

Collective Efficacy as a Key Context in Neighborhood Support for Urban Youth

Neighborhood context, including the physical and social environment, has been implicated as important contributors to positive youth development. A transactional approach to neighborhood asserts that place and people are mutually constitutive; negative perceptions of place are intrinsically bound with negative portrayals of stigmatized groups, including youth. Adult perceptions of neighborhood youth may contribute to an increased sense of alienation and youth antisocial behavior. This study uses street‐intercept interviews with adults (N = 408) to examine the relationship between neighborhood conditions and adult support for neighborhood youth. A path model was used to examine the direct and indirect relationship of neighborhood constructs (safety, aesthetic quality, and walkability) on adult support for neighborhood youth. Neighborhood aesthetic quality and the walking environment were directly associated with adult support for youth, whereas perceived safety was indirectly associated. Collective efficacy partially explained these relationships. Findings support theorized relationships between people and places; improvements to neighborhood physical environment may directly impact resident adults’ perceptions of neighborhood young people.     

How our work influences who we are: Testing a theory of vocational and personality development over fifty years

This study examines the developmental influences of occupational environments on personality traits from childhood to adulthood. We test aspects of a theory of vocational and personality development, proposing that traits develop in response to work experience following corresponsive and noncorresponsive mechanisms. We describe these pathways in the context of situations of vocational gravitation and inhabitation. In a sample from the Hawaii personality and health cohort (N = 596), we examined associations of childhood and adulthood personality traits, with occupational environments profiled on the RIASEC model. Mediations tests confirmed that work influenced personality development from childhood to adulthood for Openness/Intellect. We observed multiple reactivity effects of occupation environments on adulthood traits that were not associated with corresponding selection effects.     

Evaluating Child Coping Competence: Theory and Measurement

Much of the research on children’s coping styles is based on a downward extension of adult coping theories. In a departure from this approach, coping competence theory seeks to account for children’s ability to cope with daily challenges on the basis of developmental research. The theory, which states that challenges call for distinct coping skills in the affective, social, and achievement domains, was evaluated with an ethnically diverse sample of preschoolers. The study relied on confirmatory factor analysis of a parent-completed measure of coping to test the 3-factor model underlying the theory, and related those factors to parent and teacher measures of child functioning. Results supported the 3-factor model of coping competence and showed that each domain of coping was negatively correlated with parent and teacher ratings of child disruptive behavior. Coping competence theory held across child sex and age. Findings provide support for a 3-factor model of coping competence in early childhood and for the validity of the new parent-completed measure of children’s coping styles refined in this study.     

Pathways From Depressive Symptoms to Low Social Status

This research examined two pathways through which depressive symptoms contribute to low social status (i.e., neglect and rejection) within the peer group over time: (a) depressive symptoms promote socially helpless behavior and consequent neglect by peers; and (b) depressive symptoms promote aggressive behavior and consequent rejection by peers. These pathways were investigated in independent samples of youth at two developmental stages: middle childhood (2nd–4th grade) and early adolescence (5th–7th grade). In both Study 1 (M age?=?7.97, SD?=?0.37; 338 girls, 298 boys) and Study 2 (M age?=?11.74, SD?=?0.68; 305 girls, 300 boys), youth and their teachers completed questionnaires at three waves. Multi-group comparison path analyses were conducted to examine sex differences in the models. Consistent with expectations, two pathways emerged through which depressive symptoms undermined subsequent social status. Support was not found for the reverse direction of effect nor for developmental or sex differences in the pathways with one exception: In early adolescence, neglect directly predicted depressive symptoms. These findings suggest specificity but also heterogeneity in the effects of depressive symptoms on social status, and identify behaviors that may be targeted for preventing the persistence of depression and its interpersonal consequences.     

Psychopathic Traits and Delinquency Trajectories in Adolescence

The utility of psychopathic traits predicting various forms of antisocial behavior has been demonstrated extensively. However, there are mixed results concerning which of the three psychopathic personality dimensions—callous and unemotional traits, grandiose and manipulative interpersonal style, impulsive-irresponsible behavior—is the best predictor of antisocial behavior in adolescence. In this study, we examined developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior over four years in adolescence and psychopathic traits as predictors of these trajectories. Participants were 811 adolescents from a longitudinal community sample (M _age = 14). Results showed that four trajectories described the development of antisocial behavior from early to middle adolescence in the current sample. Both grandiose-manipulative traits and impulsive-irresponsible behavior were significant predictors of the high and elevated trajectories whereas callous-unemotional traits were not. Our findings underline the importance of studying the dimensions of the psychopathy constructs uniquely and independently of each other.     

Paths to community empowerment: Organizing at home

This study examines how low-income minority communities build on their strengths to improve material conditions and how these actions lead to further empowerment at the individual and group level, and increase engagement with civic life. Based on earlier qualitative research, low-income limited equity housing co-ops were chosen as research. Using quantitative questionnaire data, a path model was tested in which variables were organized into four levels.Level One: Attributes of the person and the context were conceptualized asexogenous variables leading to activities first at the co-op level.Level Two:co-op activities were thought to affect living conditions in the building and evaluations of co-op ownership, which comprisedLevel Three,quality of life in the building. All preceding levels were thought to influenceempowerment, as measured atLevel Four through an attitudinal measure of empowerment, and reported participation in civic activities in the broader community. The model, which emphasizes the collective and material nature of empowerment in addition to the psychological, seems justified by the data. It is especially significant that the aggregate measure of perceived participation of others predicted building quality, and that the aggregate measure of building quality went on to influence empowerment and voting behavior. Personal participation in building activities also proved a good predictor of empowerment, indicating that empowerment operates at both the individual and the group level. Furthermore, increased empowerment at the level of attitude did influence civic activities, in conjunction with personal characteristics and perceived neighborhood qualities. (Tests of causality in the opposite direction were not significant.) Our findings confirm the importance of all three components of empowerment, as articulated by Zimmerman and his colleagues (1992), that is, empowerment at the psychological, interactional, and behavioral level. It extends the conceptualization by introducing the group level of analysis. We thank the Robert F. Wagner Sr. Center for Urban Public Policy at the City University of New York Graduate School and University Center and the Fund for the City of New York for early support and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation for current support. We acknowledge the invaluable participation in the original project of Heléne Clark, Eric Glunt, Bill Roane, and April Tyler. We also thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their helpful and extremely thorough comments and suggestions.     

Developmental Precursors of Moral Disengagement and the Role of Moral Disengagement in the Development of Antisocial Behavior

The purpose of the study was to advance our understanding of the developmental precursors of Moral Disengagement (MD) and the role of MD in the development of antisocial behavior from early risk among an ethnically diverse sample of 187 low-income boys followed prospectively from ages 1.5 to 17. Results indicated associations between early rejecting parenting, neighborhood impoverishment, and child empathy and later MD. The link between some of these early constructs and later antisocial behavior was mediated by MD. Finally, in an exploratory path model both MD and biases in social information processing were found to mediate separate paths from early risk factors to later antisocial behavior. Results were partially consistent with the notion that adolescent MD was predicted by a combination of early family, neighborhood, and child risk factors, and that MD may be a mechanism underlying some boys’ risk of antisocial behavior.     

Neighborhood Disorder and Children’s Antisocial Behavior: The Protective Effect of Family Support Among Mexican American and African American Families

Using data from a sample of 673 Mexican Origin families, the current investigation examined the degree to which family supportiveness acted as a protective buffer between neighborhood disorder and antisocial behavior during late childhood (i.e. intent to use controlled substances, externalizing, and association with deviant peers). Children's perceptions of neighborhood disorder fully mediated associations between census and observer measures of neighborhood disorder and their antisocial behavior. Family support buffered children from the higher rates of antisocial behavior generally associated with living in disorderly neighborhoods. An additional goal of the current study was to replicate these findings in a second sample of 897 African American families, and that replication was successful. These findings suggest that family support may play a protective role for children living in dangerous or disadvantaged neighborhoods. They also suggest that neighborhood interventions should consider several points of entry including structural changes, resident perceptions of their neighborhood and family support.     

How do Japanese mothers treat children''s negativism

This study examined the thinking of Japanese mothers (N = 95) concerning the negative and self-assertive behavior of 2;5 and 3;5 year old children. A short structured interview was conducted with middle class mothers to (1) assertain their ideas about the reasons for and the development of negativism and self-assertion, and (2) clarify how mothers respond to such behavior. The results made it clear such childrearing issues as autonomy, negativism, self-assertion, and indeed ego development have a different meaning in the Japanese cultural context than in the Western context from which these psychological terms have been derived. Mothers appeared to be in conflict because they are told to accept negativism and noncompliance as normal and necessary developmentally, even though noncompliant and self-assertive behavior seem to be unacceptable behavior after early Japanese childhood. The results are discussed in terms of implications for childrearing and socialization models, and indicate that traditional Western theories of individuation and autonomy cannot be simply transplanted into the developmental study of Japanese children.