Adolescent and adult evaluative reactions to their community situation were examined in 3 small Colorado towns. Empirical focus was upon delineating specific community aspects which evoke differential perceptions between subgroups within and across community settings. Del Norte, Aspen, and Craig, Colorado were selected as the research sites…

Two high schools serving the same community are compared in order to examine how control/strain variables predict delinquency in two contexts. The school context characterized by a broader definition of success, more specialized discipline, and predictable supervision was found to have lower levels of delinquency for both genders. (Author/LMO)

This study used data from a random sample of African American families living in poor urban communities to examine: how well socialization, supervision, and marital transition hypotheses explained the relationship between family structure and the probability of sexual debut and pregnancy for African American adolescents in disadvantaged…

Examination of neighborhood-level data from three northern California communities with large immigrant populations found that youth violence was not related to percentage of immigrants in the neighborhood population. Youth violence was positively related to alcohol availability and percentage of divorced adults, and negatively related to…

Longitudinal data from the National Youth Survey indicate that, in general, social control variables, such as attachment to family and educational aspirations, significantly predicted sexual activity among white adolescents, while strain variables, such as perceived inability to achieve educational goals, predicted sexual behavior of black…

This study explores the relationship between social capital and adolescent violent behaviors for a national sample of secondary school students (N = 4,834). Cross-sectional data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used to evaluate multivariate models examining the family school and neighborhood correlates of violent…

The partnership described focuses on a severe problem with environmental pollution at Akwesasne, the Mohawk reservation situated along the St. Lawrence River, at the juncture of New York, Quebec, and Ontario. Industries are located along the river and its tributaries and in past years have discharged PCBs (and other toxins) into the waterways in…

Using national longitudinal data on 10,860 adolescents, a comparative analysis of community contextual effects on delinquency examined variables derived from three theories. Youths in areas of high male joblessness who experienced stressful life events or little parental supervision were especially likely to be involved in delinquency. The…

An analysis was conducted of two large samples of 13- and 17-year-old students (N=7,928) who were assessed by the National Assessment of Educational Progress during the 1977-78 and 1981-82 mathematics assessments. A group of 18 statements about math were used to construct a math attitude index. A multivariate log-linear analysis included gender,…

A Canadian study compared rural-urban differences in 15-year-olds' reading performance. Data from national and international surveys indicated that family socioeconomic status and community characteristics were the only significant variables, and community variables far outweighed socioeconomic status. Parent occupational status was the strongest…

Founded in response to the needs of children left homeless in Italy in the wake of World War II, Boys' and Girls' Towns have become international communities of children and adolescents separated from their families or homelands because of domestic violence, famine, war or other forms of social upheaval. The towns have been less subject to many of…

Examined normative expectations regarding changes in a child's physical custody following divorce. Subjects (n=309), responding to a vignette about a divorced couple and their 16-year-old son, yielded no significant main or interaction effects. However, themes in open-ended responses, such as the child's wishes should prevail, were apparent. (RJM)

Data are used from African American families in impoverished Chicago neighborhoods to address two questions: How well do modeling, supervision, and marital transition hypotheses explain the relationship between family structure and early sexual debut and pregnancy? Do higher levels of social support from parents and neighborhood adults decrease…

Problem: Various demographic and familial risk factors have been linked to runaway behavior. To date, there has not been a systematic investigation of the impact of size of community on runaway behavior. This study will compare runaways from smaller cities and rural areas to their urban counterparts. Methods: A convenience sample of 602…

This is a comprehensive report of a study of the mechanisms by which the family regulates its interaction with the immediate social environment. Subjects were four multiple family groups, each composed of six or more families, meeting in both hospital and home settings. In each family, at least one member was either an alcoholic or an adolescent…