NCJ Number
167704
Date Published
1995
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This chapter reviews what is known about community influences on adolescent behavior.
Abstract
This chapter focuses disproportionately on antisocial behavior, in part because the literature is deficient in studies of community effects on prosocial behavior. The chapter also focuses primarily on studies undertaken in the United States, because American sociologists early on grounded their explanations of antisocial behavior in ecological and organizational theory. Finally, the topic is limited by the very few studies of the effects of community interventions on adolescent behavior. One early study led to the conclusions that: delinquency rates vary considerably among areas of every city and they remain stable or increase over time; high rates in areas cannot be accounted for by nativity, nationality, or ethnic group; high-delinquency areas in any city have external characteristics in common with other cities; high-delinquency areas also are characterized by other community problems; and high-delinquency areas are generally characterized by a conflict in values. Most interventions to discourage antisocial behavior or enhance prosocial behavior of adolescents focus on individuals or schools. Interventions should pay more attention to the interaction and feedback effects among individuals, families, peer networks, and school and community environments. Notes, references