The neighborhood: A multidimensional context for risk and resilience during the transition to adolescence for children with and without conduct problems

Principal investigator

Alexa Martin-Storey

Project status:

Completed

Years:

April 2014 - March 2017

Abstract

Childhood behavior disorders increase the likelihood of adolescent delinquency and poor academic achievement. Living in neighborhoods characterized by high levels of resident poverty and physical disorder and low levels of resident affluence and perceived safety also increase the likelihood of these negative outcomes, but subsumes considerable variability. The proposed project will address the mechanisms behind this variability by adding three measures of neighborhood context (census-based measures of neighborhood socioeconomic status, observer ratings of disorder and adolescent ratings of disorder and safety), to an ongoing longitudinal study assessing children with and without early behavior disorders during the transition to adolescence. Exploring how different elements of neighborhood matter for delinquency and academic achievement, and for trajectories of these outcomes, provides an opportunity to identify the mechanisms by which neighborhood shapes the successful transition to adolescence. Furthermore, establishing how these different neighborhood factors are moderated by childhood behavior disorders allows for an understanding of how these problems situate youth within their larger ecological context.

Funding Organization:

Établissement de nouveaux professeurs-chercheurs - Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et Culture (FRQSC)