Project: NEIGHBORHOOD INFLUENCES ON ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT: TIMING, GENDER, AND PROCESSES   

Sponsor: William T. Grant Foundation 
Status: In process   
IPS Staff: Tama Leventhal  

Purpose and Approach
This study, using a mixed-methods approach that draws on experimental and non-experimental data, will address several issues related to adolescent development in neighborhood contexts. The importance of the timing of neighborhood socioeconomic effects on development and whether adolescence is a particularly sensitive period will be investigated. This study also focuses on gender differences in neighborhood effects on adolescent development and the generalizability of findings across income groups. Mechanisms of transmission of neighborhood socioeconomic effects will be explored as well.

Results
This study hypothesized that neighborhood collective efficacy (social cohesion and community control) delays sexual onset for urban youth. However, collective efficacy may be more relevant for youth who experience lower levels of parental monitoring and greater exposure to neighborhood environments. The extent to which parental and neighborhood controls differ by gender was also examined. Analyses of multilevel data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods Community and Longitudinal Cohort Surveys indicated that neighborhood collective efficacy delayed sexual onset only for adolescents who experienced lower levels of parental monitoring. Although parental monitoring exerts significantly greater influence on girls’ timing of first intercourse, the moderating effect of parental monitoring on collective efficacy held for both boys and girls.

Publications

Browning, C.R., T. Leventhal, and J. Brooks-Gunn (2005). “Sexual Initiation in Early Adolescence: The Nexus of Parental and Community Control,” American Sociological Review, Vol. 70, No. 5, pp. 758-778.