NCJ Number
231446
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 27 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2010 Pages: 538-559
Date Published
August 2010
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study explored the relationship between cognitive skill and neighborhood disadvantage and adolescent violence.
Abstract
Numerous studies uncover a link between cognitive skills and adolescent violence. Overlooked is whether the relationship changes at varying levels of neighborhood disadvantage. The authors examine the issue by contrasting two models that place individual difference in cognitive skill within a social-structural framework. Using five waves of the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and a three-level hierarchical model, results indicate that cognitive skill is inversely associated with violence and that the relationship is strongest in non-disadvantaged neighborhoods. However, the cognitive skills-violence relationship is indistinguishable from zero in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods. The findings are therefore consistent with the hypothesis that social expression of developed ability is muted in disadvantaged contexts. Tables, figure, and references (Published Abstract)