NCJ Number
226919
Journal
Journal of Early Adolescence Volume: 29 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2009 Pages: 285-306
Date Published
2009
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study examined the association between neighborhood-level social capital and neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, and school achievement in adolescent boys and girls.
Abstract
Results indicate that there is evidence for interaction effects between gender and the neighborhood variables in their effects on educational achievement. After controlling for individual-level demographic and socioeconomic factors, there was no association between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and social cohesion and trust on one hand, and school achievement on the other, in either boys or girls. An association between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and school achievement was not found after adjustment for individual confounders in neighborhoods either high or low in social capital. However, lower levels of neighborhood informal social control were associated with lower school achievement scores in boys only. In boys, a wider social environment that contributes to obedience to norms and values may be conducive to superior educational achievement. Results also showed that school achievement was associated with measures of individual socioeconomic status. Data were collected from 328 families with 11-year old children in 23 schools servicing 31 neighborhoods living in Maastrict a city located in the south of the Netherlands. Tables, appendix, and references