title: Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and the shape of the age-crime curve.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We sought to better determine the way in which neighborhood disadvantage affects the shape of the age-crime curve.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS), a 14-year longitudinal study, to compare the age-crime curves of individuals in neighborhoods of different disadvantage. We visually compared observed age-crime curves, and then used generalized linear mixed models to test for differences in curve parameters.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adjusted for individual risk factors, the mixed models found that the parameters for interactions of neighborhood disadvantage with both linear age and quadratic age were significant (P < .05) and consistent with higher and longer age-crime curves in more disadvantaged neighborhoods. This implied that compared with boys in advantaged neighborhoods, rates of violence among boys in disadvantaged neighborhoods rose to higher levels that were sustained significantly longer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggested that residing in a disadvantaged neighborhood during early adolescence may have an enduring effect on the shape of the age-crime curve throughout an individual's life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Epidemiology Data Center, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA. afabio@pitt.edu
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fabio
authors.forename: Li-Chuan
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Loeber
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010414:Pennsylvania; D011638:Public Housing; D044469:Racial Groups; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D035862:Vulnerable Populations; D055815:Young Adult