The protective effects of neighborhood collective efficacy on British children growing up in deprivation: a developmental analysis.
This article reports on the influence of neighborhood-level deprivation and collective efficacy on children's antisocial behavior between the ages of 5 and 10 years. Latent growth curve modeling was applied to characterize the developmental course of antisocial behavior among children in the E-Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, an epidemiological cohort of 2,232 children. Children in deprived versus affluent neighborhoods had higher levels of antisocial behavior at school entry (24.1 vs. 20.5, p < .001) and a slower rate of decline from involvement in antisocial behavior between the ages of 5 and 10 (-0.54 vs. -0.78, p < .01). Neighborhood collective efficacy was negatively associated with levels of antisocial behavior at school entry (r = -.10, p < .01) but only in deprived neighborhoods; this relationship held after controlling for neighborhood problems and family-level factors. Collective efficacy did not predict the rate of change in antisocial behavior between the ages of 5 and 10. Findings suggest that neighborhood collective efficacy may have a protective effect on children living in deprived contexts.
Odgers
Candice L
CL
Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697-7085, USA. codgers@uci.edu
Moffitt
Terrie E
TE
Tach
Laura M
LM
Sampson
Alan
A
Taylor
Robert J
RJ
Matthews
Charlotte L
CL
Caspi
Avshalom
A
D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000523:psychology*; D004739:England; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010553:Personality Development; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012737:Sex Factors; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D012940:Social Problems / Q000523:psychology; D014852:Wales