Community Structure, Delinquency and Drug Use: A Preliminary Report of the Denver Youth Survey

• NCJ Number: 118954
• Author(s): D Huizinga; F A Esbensen; D S Elliott
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 25 pages
• Grant Number(s): 86-JN-CX-006; 1-RO1DA05183
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Corporate Author: University of Colorado at Boulder
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examines the extent to which community level explanations can be applied not only to delinquency but also to drug use.

Abstract

Census data were used to identify "high risk" neighborhoods in Denver (Colorado). A random sample of households were selected, and interviews were conducted with 1,532 youth between the ages of seven and sixteen years and one of their parents. Results indicate that teenager and children problems, crime problems, service availability problems, and general disorder problems provided moderate and similar patterns across the social areas. However, some differences between areas was found for certain types of delinquency and drug use, both in terms of prevalence and offender/user frequency rates. These findings suggest that there may be different influences on residents living in different social areas characterized as socially disorganized with high crime rates. There is thus some evidence of the importance of recognizing the heterogeneity of socially disorganized areas in examining reasons underlying delinquent and drug use behavior. 2 notes, 15 tables, and 53 references.