Perceptions of danger: A psychological mediator of neighborhood demographic characteristics

American Joumol of Orthopsychiatty, 68(3). July 1998

PERCEPTIONS OF DANGER: A Psychological Mediator of Neighborhood

Demographic Characteristics

Lee Shumow, Ph.D., Deborah Lowe Vandell, Ph.D., Jill Posner, Ph.D.

~~

Associations between neighborhood characteristics and adjustment of 168 urban Jifrh-grade children were explored. High neighborhood risk was associated with parent and teacher reports of child misconduct, and with parent and child reports of child psychological distress, while child and parent perceptions of neighborhood dangers appeared to mediate these associations. Specific neighborhood aspects were also related to child adjustment: higher violent crime rates with higher child misconduct rates, and lower neighborhood incomes with greater child psychological distress. Implications for research and intervention are discussed.

ryant (1985) has suggested that peo- B ple’s perceptions of their neighborhoods may serve as a mediating mechanism between objective features of the neighborhood and children’s development. This view is consistent with contextual theories of development, which posit that individu- als actively interpret and react to their sur- roundings (Bronfenbrenner, 1992; Jessor, Vanden Bos, Vanderryn, Costa, & Turbin, 1995). The purpose of the current study is to test the hypothesis that perceptions of danger in the neighborhood mediate, in part, associations between more distal demographic features of the neighborhood and children’s behavioral problems.

Baron and Kenny (1 986) have described a way to examine such a mediational hypothesis. First, a relationship is demonstrated

between distal factors, such as demographic neighborhood risk indicators, and child adjustment. Second, the distal factor must be related to a psychological process (e.g., parents’ and children’s perceptions of their neighborhood). Third, both the distal factor (neighborhood risk) and the proposed mediator (neighborhood perceptions) are used to predict the outcome variables (e.g., children’s behavior problems). If the contribution of the distal factor to the outcome is reduced and the proposed mediator is shown to contribute significantly to the outcome, then it may be concluded that the process examined is a mediator (Baron & Kenny, 1986).

This approach was used in the study reported here, which also controlled for child gender, race, family structure, maternal ed-

Based on apaperpresentedat the 1997 meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Washington, D.C. Work MU supported by a grantfrom the Spencer Foundation to the secondand third authors. Authors are at the Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling, and Special Education, Northern Illinois Univer- sity, DeKalb (Shumow); and Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison (Vandell, Posner).

468 (0 1998 American Orthopsychiatric Association, Inc.

SHUMOW ET AL 469

ucation, and family income in all analyses. Accounting for these individual and family characteristics when investigating possible contextual effects of neighborhood was deemed important because families that live in riskier neighborhoods are likely to differ on these characteristics from those that live in better neighborhoods, and because such controls help ensure that ob- served neighborhood effects are not at- tributable to family factors.

Research relating neighborhood context to delinquency during adolescence has a long history (Coulton & Pandey, 1992; Maccoby, Johnson, & Church, 1958; Shaw, 1929). Many of these studies found that neighborhood risk contributed to delinquency, although others did not (Jencks & Mayer, 1990). A number of the studies failed, however, to control for family factors that were confounded with neighborhood context. Fewer studies have considered preadolescents, although there are in- dications that these younger children are affected by living in high-risk neighborhoods (Henggeler, 1991). In a set of Aus- tralian studies, neighborhood quality was found to be related to the self-reported behavioral adjustment of 9-1 1-year-olds, controlling for family characteristics (Home1 & Burns, 1989). Children who resided in inner-city areas felt more lonely, worried, fearful, angry, and unhappy than children living in other areas. Children, particularly boys from low-income families, in neighborhoods with more social problems reported the greatest alienation and with- drawal.

Some previous studies have relied only on parental reports, whereas others have gathered ratings from children or teachers. These data sources are likely to have different perspectives on behavioral adjustment. For example, in a study of children attending an elementary school in a moder- ately violent area of Washington, D.C., Richter and Martinez (1993) found that parents reported far fewer internalizing symp- toms for their children than did the children

themselves. Teachers may have a yet different perspective on children’s behavior. The current study has extended prior research parameters by examining relations between neighborhood demographic features and fifth-grade urban children’s well- being from the perspective of multiple respondents. Both misconduct and psychological distress, as reported by teachers, parents, and children, were considered, and neighborhood demographic factors were expected to be associated with children’s self-reported psychological distress and teachers’ and parents’ reports of misconduct.

Associations between the demographic features of the neighborhood and parents’ and children’s perceptions of their neighborhood were also examined. Little is known about how children’s perceptions of their neighborhood relate to actual conditions, but research on adult perceptions is extensive. Strong associations exist between objectively defined neighborhood characteristics and subjective ratings by adult residents (Kasl, White, Will, & Mar- cue , 1982). Disintegration, both physical (Taylor, Shumaker, & Gottfiedon, 1985) and social (Rohe & Burby, 1988) have been linked to residents’ perceptions of safety. Families in the present study resided in either working class or ghetto neighborhoods. Their perceptions were expected to function as mediators of neighborhood characteristics and children’s behavioral problems. On the one hand, perceiving the neighborhood as unsafe might lead to anger and increase the likelihood of acting aggressively; on the other, such perceptions could result in hypervigilance, anxiety, and depression.

The psychological importance of parental perceptions has been highlighted in several recent studies. Adults consider neighborhood safety an important aspect of daily life (Caspi, Bolger, & Eckenrode, 1987; Cook, 1988). A survey conducted in Dallas (Warr, 1992) showed that adults’ concerns about their children’s safety predicted pur- chase of weapons by male heads-of-house-

470 PERCEPTIONS OF DANGER

hold. Findings from a longitudinal study (Kasl et al., 1982; White, Kasl, Zahner, & Will, 1987) of low-income minority mothers of ten-year-old children suggest that maternal perceptions of the neighborhood may link neighborhood conditions and children’s psychological adjustment: objective ratings and maternal perceptions of neighborhood conditions were found to predict maternal depression and anger. Other recent research (Silverman, La Gre- ca, & Wasserstein, 1996) has suggested that children, too, worry about their personal safety and that these womes are often intense and related to children’s anxiety. Both parent and child perceptions are tested in the study reported here.

The final purpose of the present study was to delineate the components of neighborhood risk and determine whether specific features were associated with children’s misconduct and psychological distress. Prior research and theory suggest that these specific features may contribute to behavioral problems.

Children living in neighborhoods with lower overall income are likely to observe many people in difficult and pressing economic circumstances. At least one previous study has found that the proportion of low- income neighbors predicted maternal reports of externalizing problems in five- year-old children (Ducan, Brooks-Gunn, & Klebanov, 1994); however, because data from only one source was reported, it was unclear whether this relationship was a function of actual externalizing behavior or of maternal perceptions.

The proportion of single-parent families in the neighborhood may also be related to children’s behavioral problems. Consistent with the idea that two-parent families are able to provide more monitoring of neighborhood children, Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, Kato, and Sealand (1991) reported that behavioral problems of young children were predicted by the percentage of single-par-

ent households that were in the neighborhood.

A third neighborhood component that may influence children’s school behavior, in particular, is the educational level of adults in the neighborhood. Those who have been relatively successful in attaining an education may serve as positive role mod- els for the neighboring children.

Recent studies report community violence as a neighborhood characteristic spe- cifically related to children’s behavioral adjustment (Garbarino, Dubrow, Kostelny, & Pardo, 1992). Both case studies and empiri- cal research describe possible psychological ramifications, such as depression and behavioral problems, for those children who are exposed to neighborhood crime and violence (Garbarino et al., 1992; Kot- lowitz, 1991; Martinez & Richter, 1993; Osofiky, Wewers, Hann,& Fick, 1993).

In sum, perceptions of safety were hypothesized as a proximal psychological experience mediating associations between demographic characteristics of urban neighborhoods and children’s adjustment. The study reported here: I) examined relations between neighborhood demographic factors and child adjustment, as rated by teachers, parents, and children; 2) examined relations between neighborhood characteristics and parents’ and children’s perceptions of safety, testing the perceptions as a psychological mediator between neighborhood demographics and child outcomes; and 3) dismantled the neighborhood composite variable so as to determine its specific characteristics (median educational level, percent of single parent households, median household income, and rates of violent crimes) and test their association with child adjustment.

METHOD Sample

Families were originally selected* for a longitudinal study of childrens develop-

*Details regarding the selection procedure and attrition have been reported elsewhere (Posner & Vundell, 1994).

SHUMOW ET AL 47 1

ment when the children were in third grade and were an average age of 9.1 years ( S B S). The original sample of 216 children at- tended nine Milwaukee public schools. Average maternal education was 12.8 years (SB2). Wilcoxon sign rank tests comparing study participants to other children in these schools showed no differences in demographic characteristics, school transfer during the year, or reading achieve- ment scores. More than 98% of the families had a family income below the median in the predominantly working-class city of Milwaukee.

The current study focused on the children when they were in fifth grade, since the neighborhood perceptions question- naire was only administered during the fifth-grade assessment. Of the 194 children in this data set, complete neighborhood, parent, teacher, and child reports were available for 168, and these formed the sample for the current analyses. Of these 168 children, 49% were male, 46% were African-American, and 49% had single parents. Because of participants’ consider- able geographic mobility, the children at- tended over 40 different schools during the course of the study, and since some families used post-office boxes, their residences could not always be reliably ascertained. Chi-square and t-tests indicated that there were no significant differences between the 168 children in the current analyses and the other 48 children from the original sample of 2 16 on gender, race, family structure, income, neighborhood risk index, maternal education, or reported behavioral problems during third grade.

Neighborhood Characteristics Neighborhoods were defined by census

tracts. Use of this definition has several ad- vantages. I ) Previous studies (Chase-Lam- dale & Gordon, 1996; Connell, Spencer, & Aber, 1994; Duncan, Brook-Gunn, & Kle- banov, 1994) have operationalized neighborhoods in this way, thus allowing compari- son between studies. 2) Census boundaries

are drawn by local committees charged with identifying locally perceived “neighborhoods,” so that using census tracts to ap- proximate neighborhoods has face validity (Hojnacki, 1979). 3) Census tracts common- ly cover from six- to nine-square-block areas in inner city areas of Milwaukee and rarely cross major geographic (rivers) or man-made (street thoroughfares) barriers; thus, they approximated areas that children are likely to think of and experience as their neighborhood (Mathews, 1986).

Children’s fifth-grade addresses, obtained during the fall of the 1993 school year, were keyed to census tract. The neighborhoods ranged from working-class to ghetto areas. Information obtained from the 1990 census for each of the 93 tracts in which the children lived was: a) proportion of female-headed households (W.24, S B .18); b) median education for adults (W 11.9 years, S B . 9 ) ; and c) median household income (W$22,530, SB$8,484). In addition, reports of homicide, rape, aggra- vated battery, other battery, and vice crimes were obtained from the Milwaukee Police Department on each tract for the cal- endar year 1993 ending in December of the children’s fifth-grade school year (M= 108.6, SB89.7). Principal-component analysis yielded a single factor, neighborhood risk, that accounted for 76% of the variance. Each child was assigned the principal component score corresponding to their fifth-grade address.

Procedure The person in each family who claimed

primary parenting responsibilities was asked to complete and return questionnaires in postage-paid envelopes and to participate in a phone interview. When families did not return the questionnaires or experienced reading difficulties, information was obtained from interviews. In most cases, questionnaires were completed by the children’s mothers, although others-five grandmothers, two aunts, seven fathers, and one foster mother-who were


primary caregivers provided information for 15 of the children. Teachers were asked to complete questionnaires describing the participating children’s adjustment. Mea- sures were administered to small groups of 2-3 children at school. Items were read aloud and children marked their responses.

Measures Parent reports of child misconduct and

distress. Parents completed the 28-item Be- havior Problems Index @ill, 1990), rating behavior manifested by the children during the previous three months (O=never, 1= sometimes or often). The antisocial subscale of the index measures children’s misconduct on six items (B.27 , SD=.28), such as lying, cruelty, and destructiveness (Cron- bach’s alpha=.70). The anxiety subscale measures their psychological distress on six items (B .38 , SD=.29), such as as ner- vousness, feelings of worthlessness, and sadness (Cronbach’s alpha=.73).

Teacher reports of child misconduct and distress. Teachers completed a behavioral gdjustment rating scale that includes sub- scales on misconduct and distress at school (Santrock & Warshak; 1979). The five misconduct items include “This child threatens other children” and “This child hits other children.” The psychological distress scale contained five items, such as “This child is fearful of new things” and “This child is unhappy.” Possible responses range from l=never to 5=always (for misconduct: B 2.02, S B . 8 0 ; for distress: M=2.29; S B .47). Cronbach’s alpha was .92 for the misconduct scale and .57 for the distress scale, suggesting the teacher report of distress may not be reliable.

Child report. Using a measure developed by Brown and Clasen (1985), children indicated how often in the past month (1 = never to 5=almost every day) they had en- gaged in any of ten types of misconduct, including destroying property, stealing, and fighting (W1.54; SB.48; Cronbach’s alpha=.77). They completed the Reynolds Depression Scale (Reynolds, 1989) to re-

port psychological distress. This 30-item measure (M=1.59, SD.38; Cronbach’s alpha=.90.) uses a four-point response scale (l=almost never to 4=all the time). Sample items include “I feel sad,” “I feel worried,” and “I feel I am no good.”

Perceptions of Neighborhood Danger A six-item scale assessing children’s

perceptions of neighborhood danger was created for the present study. The items, derived from qualitative reports of low- income urban children’s daily lives, were: “Drug dealers are a problem in my neighborhood,” “It is safe in my neighborhood” (reversed), “I am scared of gangs in my neighborhood,” “There are people in my neighborhood who might hurt me,” “I feel safe playing outside at my house” (reversed), and “I worry about people with guns and knives in my neighborhood.” Five-point ratings ranged from 1 =totally true to 5=totally false (W2.34; SD1.08; Cronbach’s alpha=.82).

An eight-item scale, also created for this study, measured ’ parent perceptions of neighborhood danger. Six of the items cor- respond to those on the children’s scale. The two additional items assess the dangers of walking to the nearest store and of playing at the nearest playground. Ratings range from l=totally true to 5=totally false (W2.49, SB.76; Cronbach’s alpha=.84).

RESULTS First, the neighborhood demographic

composite score was used to predict child misconduct and psychological distress as reported by children, parents, and teachers, controlling for individual family characteristics. Second, children’s and parents’ perceptions of neighborhood danger were tested as mediators of neighborhood demographic characteristics and children’s behavior problems. Finally, specific neighborhood characteristics were examined as po- tential predictors of behavioral problems.

To test the hypothesis that neighborhood perceptions are psychological experiences

SHUMOW ET AL 473

that mediate relationships between demographic measures of the neighborhood and children's misconduct or psychological distress, statistical procedures described by Baron and Kenny (1986) were followed. Three sets of equations were examined in a series of multiple regressions. First, teacher, parent, and child ratings of children's behavioral problems were regressed on the neighborhood demographic composite score while controlling for individual family characteristics, in order to determine whether the neighborhood factor predicted children's psychological distress or misconduct. Second, child and parent perceptions of neighborhood danger were regressed on the family and neighborhood demographic composite in order to determine whether the neighborhood demographic factor predicted perceptions by children or parents of neighborhood danger. Finally, reports of child adjustment were regressed on the full model, including neighborhood demographic and perception measures, in order to determine whether the statistical significance of the neighborhood demographic features was reduced by the in- clusion of neighborhood perceptions. Ac- cording to Baron and Kenny (1986), it is necessary to obtain all three conditions to infer mediation.

Preliminaty Analyses TABLE 1 displays Pearson correlations

between teacher, parent, and child reports of child psychological distress and misconduct. As can be seen, there was moderate agreement between respondents regarding child misconduct. Teachers discriminated between misconduct and distress, as indicated by the negative correlation between both reports. Parent reports of misconduct were related to their reports of distress, as were the child reports. Teacher reports of distress had small significant correlations with parent reports, but were not related to child reports. Parent reports of distress were modestly but significantly related to children's reported distress.

Table 1 RATINGS OF CHILDREN'S PSYCHOLOGICAL

DISTRESS AND MISCONDUCT: PEARSON CORRELATIONS

DISTRESS MISCONDUCT RESPOND. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distress

1.T- - 0.26" 0.14 -0.21" 0.05 -0.08 2. Parant - 0.18. 0.03 0.51- 0.21" 3. ChiM - 0.03 0.18 0.33"

4. Teachar - 0.35- 0.33" 5. Parent - 0.37 6. ChiM -

Misconduct

*p.05; "pc.01; "p.001; -p.oOOl.

Neighborhood Demographics and Children's Adjustment

To establish an association between neighborhood demographic characteristics and child adjustment, as required in the mediational model, the measures of children's behavioral problems were regressed on the neighborhood demographic principal component score and childfamily controls (child gender, race, family income, family structure, and parent's educational level). As TABU 2 shows, children's psychological distress, as reported by parents, children, and teachers, was predicted by the regression model, which included the control variables and the neighborhood demographic composite score. Inspection of individual betas in the regression equations revealed that the neighborhood composite was posi- tively associated with children's psychological distress, as reported by parents w.06) and children (p<.05), over and above the contribution of individual family predictors. Misconduct also was predicted by the model. Inspection of individual betas indicates that the neighborhood demographic composite score was associated with parent @<.05), teacher @<.09), and child (~6.05) reports of misconduct, even after controlling for individual family variables.

Neighborhood Demographics and Perceptions of Danger

The next analysis tested whether the neighborhood demographic composite score


sions are summarized in TABLE 4. Both parent and child reports of psychological dis- Table 2

SIMULTANEOUS MULTIPLE REGRESSIONS tress were predicted by the full model. In- PREDICTING CHILDREN'S DISTRESS AND

MlSCONDUCT FROM NEIGHBORHOOD RISK spection of the betas for individual predictors revealed that the neighborhood demo-

PREDICTORS Psychological Distress

Gender' Rawb Income Family Structurec Matemal Educationd Neighborhood Risk R' Adjusted R'

Misconduct Gender' Raceb Income Family Structurec Matemal Educationd Neighborhood Risk

REPORT TEACHER PARENT CHILD

-0.14 0.18 0.07

-0.12 -0.16 0.17 0.08'. 0.05"

-0.02 0.23" 0.01

-0.22" -0.07 0.20' 0.08" 0.05"

-0.14- 0.17 0.01

-0.14 -0.02 0.22- 0.08- 0.04"

0.25"" 0.15- 0.26-' -0.14 0.04 0.03 -0.02 -0.08 0.02 -0.10 -0.25" -0.09 -0.11 -0.03 -0.13 0.17' 0.24" 0.05

R' 0.20- 0.20- 0.09- Adjusted @ 0.17- 0.17"- 0.06

Note. Standardized betas are entered in the table. *Gender: l=male. O-%mak. bRace: 1 =Caucasian, O=African-Amrican. CFamily structure: 1 =two-parent, O=sing)e-parent. dMatemal educaticm scale: l=chigh school, 2=high school, 3=postsecondary, 4tBachelor degree, 5=some graduate study, 6=graduate degree. 'w.10: "w.05: "w.01; -w.OOI.

predicted parents' and children's perceptions of danger in the neighborhood, using regression equations that included the control variables. As can be seen in TABLE 3, the neighborhood demographic composite predicted both parent (8=.62, p<.OOl) and child (8=.57, p<.OOl) perceptions of danger in the neighborhood, as hypothesized.

Perceptiom as Mediators of Neighborhood Demographic Characteritics

The fmal step in establishing mediation involved regressing the child distress (teacher, parent, and child ratings) and misconduct (teacher and parent ratings) measures on the full model composed of the neighborhood demographic composite score, familykhild control variables (child gender, race, family income, single parent status, and maternal education), and both parent and child perceptions of neighborhood danger (Pearson r=.48 between parent and child rating). The results of these regres-

- graphic composite was no longer a significant predictor of psychological distress after the respondents' perceptions of the neighborhood were introduced into the model. Parental perception of danger emerged as a mediator of neighborhood demographic characteristics for parent-reports of child psychological distress and misconduct. Children's perceptions of danger mediated child-reported distress.

Neighborhood Risk and Behavioral Functioning

Simultaneous multiple regression equations were estimated in order to examine whether specific elements of the neighborhood were differentially associated with children's distress or misconduct. These regressions included the same individual familykhild controls as the previous mod- els (i.e., child gender, race, family income, family structure, maternal education). Indi- vidual demographic components (median adult education, median household income, percent female-headed household, and violent crime rate) were substituted for

Table 3 ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN

NEIGHBORHOOD COMPOSITE AND PERCEPTIONS OF DANGER

PREDICTOR Gender' Raceb Family Income Family Structurec Matemal Educationd Neighborhood Risk

R' Adiusted @

PERCEPTIONS PARENT CHlL,D

-0.12 -0.05 -0.10 -0.03 -0.03 -0.02 0.06 -0.01

-0.01 0.10 0.62' 0.57' 0.34' 0.33' 0.31' 0.30'

Note. Standardized betas are entered in the table. *Gender: l=male, O=female. bRace: I =Caucasian, O=AfricanAmerican. CFamily structure: l=two-parent, O=single-parent. dMatemal education scale: l=-=high school, 2=high school. 3=postsecondary, 4=Bachelor degree, 5=some graduate study, 6=graduate degree. * ~ . O O O l .

SHUMOW ET AL 475

Table 4 PERCEPTIONS AS MEDIATORS

OF NEIGHBORHOOD RISK AND BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS

PREDICTORS Psychological Distress

GendeP Raceb Income Family structurec Maternal educationd Neighborhood risk Parent perception Child perception Rz Adjusted

Misconduct Gender. Raceb Income Family structurec Maternal educationd Neighborhood risk Parent perception Child perception @ Adiusted @

REPORTS TEACHER PARENT CHILD

-0.13 0.20 0.06

-0.11 -0.14 0.15

-0.04 0.04 0.07 0.02

0.25"' -0.14 -0.03 -0.10 -0.10 0.16 0.04

-0.02 0.19=*** 0.15=-*

0.02 0.20' 0.02

-0.24" 0.07 0.04 0.27"

-0.02 0.13" 0.09"

0.18' 0.01

-0.07 -0.26** -0.03 0.10 0.25"

-0.02 0.25'- 0.21.'"'

-0.12 0.18 0.03

-0.19. -0.03 -0.06 0.04 0.46H*' 0.23"" 0.19""

0.26." 0.03 0.02

-0.11 -0.14 -0.05 0.04 0.16 0.11. 0.06

Note. Standardized betas are entered in the table. .Gender 1 =male, O=female. bRace: 1 =Caucasian, O=AfricanAmerican. CFamily structure: 1 =two-parent. O=single-parent. dMatemal education scale: l=<hQh school, P=high school, 3=postsecondary, 4=Bachelor degree, 5=some graduate, 6=graduate degree. 'pc.05; "p.01; "'pc.001; '~'pc.0001.

the demographic composite score. TABLE 5 displays the standardized betas associated with each of these individual neighborhood components. As can be seen, different aspects of the neighborhood were associated

with distress and misconduct. Crime rates predicted parent and child reports of misconduct; median household incomes predicted parent and teacher reports of child psychological distress and parent reports of misconduct; proportion of female-headed households predicted child-reported distress; median adult education predicted reports by teachers, but not by parents or children, of misconduct.

DISCUSSION The present study examined relation-

ships between a composite index of neighborhood risk and two types of behavioral problems among urban children. This neighborhood measure was found to predict children's misconduct and psychological distress, even when individual family factors were controlled. Both parent and teacher reports of misconduct were associated with neighborhood demographic characteristics, as were parent and child reports of psychological distress. It should be noted that a full range of neighborhoods was not as- sessed. Rather, these associations were found within a fairly restricted range of urban neighborhoods, from impoverished to working class. It may be that danger is especially salient psychologically in such neighborhoods.

Consistent with earlier findings concern- ing adolescents (Jencks & Mayer, 1990)

Table 5 NEIGHBORHOOD COMPONENTS PREDICTING DISTRESS AND MISCONDUCT

COMPONENT Psychological Distress

Median adult education Median household income Percent female-headed households Crimes against people

Median adult education Median household income Percent female-headed households Crimes against DeODle

Misconduct

TEACHER B @

-0.15 0.05" -0.20**' 0.05" 0.16 0.04"

-0.02 0.02

-0.1 7" 0.17"" -0.13 0.16'*** 0.11 0.16"" 0.04 0.17""

REPORT PARENT

B @ -0.08 0.03 -0.23" 0.05" 0.12 0.03 0.15 0.04.'

-0.11 0.15"" -0.24"' 0.17"" 0.20 0.16*"' 0.18" 0.17""

CHILD

B @ -0.04 0.02 -0.14 0.03 0.28'. 0.05" 0.16 0.03

0.02 0.05..

-0.01 0.05" -0.01 0.05"

0.17. 0.08"' ~~

Note: Standardized betas entered in table from equations: control variables, gender, race, income. family s t r u i i i and maternal education. 'pc.1; * * p . o 5 ; ***p.oi; ****pc.oooi.


and preschoolers (Duncan et al., 1994)’ parent and teacher reports of misconduct were associated with neighborhood characteristics. Living in neighborhoods with higher rates of violent crime, lower incomes, lower education levels, and more female-headed households was associated with higher rates of child misconduct. The fact that both parents and teachers reported heightened misconduct suggests that the differences are not simply an artifact of parental stress. There was also converging evidence regarding negative effects of poor quality neighborhoods on children’s psychological distress. Both parent and child reports of child distress were higher in riskier neighborhoods. Teacher reports of children’s psychological distress, however, were not associated with neighborhood characteristics. It may be that teachers are less aware of children’s distress because it is “quieter” than acting out in the class- room, and the latter distracts them. The low Cronbach’s alpha obtained on teacher reports of psychological distress may also be a factor.

Present results showed that perceptions of neighborhood danger were associated with actual conditions for both children and adults. The association between adult perceptions and independent ratings of neighborhood quality has been well estab- lished in the literature (Karl et ul., 1982; Rohe & Burby, 1988; Taylor, Shumakr, & Gotrfehon, 1985). Much less research, however, has focused on children’s perceptions of their neighborhoods. In this study, children’s as well as parents’ perceptions of danger matched independent demographic indicators of the neighborhoods.

Parental perceptions of neighborhood danger were found to mediate associations between neighborhood demographic characteristics and parent reports of child misconduct and psychological distress. The relationship between demographic characteristics and child-reported distress also appeared to be mediated by the children’s perception of neighborhood danger. Nei-

ther parents’ nor children’s fears mediated teacher ratings of misconduct. Interest- ingly, not only were perceptions of danger found to be psychological processes link- ing neighborhood demographics to children’s mental health, but the variance accounted for by the model (including perceptions) increased substantially compared to the demographic model, especially in the case of children’s self-reports of psychological distress. Thus, these perceptions appear to be important factors in understanding children’s functioning.

Specific aspects of the neighborhoods that predicted the children’s behavioral problems depended on the source of the ratings. Parent reports of child misconduct were associated with police statistics of criminal activity against persons in the im- mediate area. Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, and Klebanov (1994) suggested that parents in high-risk areas may over-report children’s behavioral problems. The present finding that parent perceptions of danger in the neighborhood mediated their reports of both misconduct and distress suggests some heightened vigilance in monitoring children’s behavioral functioning in such areas. Although children’s misconduct reports were not predicted by global neighborhood risk, they were marginally associated with the frequency of violent crimes in the neighborhood. This suggests that children react to their everyday experience by acting out, either in imitation of criminal behavior or in an attempt to protect themselves from the deviant ecology (Sampson, 1993). Interestingly, the proportion of female-headed households, which is sometimes used as a proxy for less available adult monitoring, did not predict any of the three ratings of children’s misconduct. The proportion of female-headed households in the neighborhood was, however, found to relate to children’s depression, suggesting that less adult supervision and support influenced the children.

These findings have implications for prevention and intervention programs. First,

SHUMOW ET AL 477

the children manifesting behavioral problems were preadolescent, suggesting that programs need to reach them at an early age. Some evidence suggests that being home alone after school exacerbates behavioral problems (Vandel, Posner, Shumow, & Kang, I995), and that high quality after- school programs are protective (Vandell, Shumow, & Posner, 1997). A promising av- enue for prevention programs is the con- nection of children in high-risk areas with formal ongoing support systems (Bryant, 1985). Children in the some of the poorest neighborhoods typically have fewer people on whom they can depend on for help, and children from the lowest socioeconomic strata have only half as many people available for support as do middle-income children (Garbarino, Burston, Rober, Russell, & Crouter; 1978). Trained youth workers and high-quality after-school programs could serve important supportive functions for these children.

Second, parents’ sensitivity to children’s behavioral problems indicates that they can be recruited as allies in the effort to prevent problems from developing or worsening. The present study does not address the manner in which parents manage children’s activities in situations of neighborhood risk and community crime. Other recent research suggests that parenting prac- tices are influenced by neighborhood context. Furstenberg (1993)’ for instance, noted that the more resourceful parents in high-risk neighborhoods sought out safe havens for their children. Whether provid- ing developmental opportunities in safe places will contribute to children’s behavioral competence is a topic for future research.

Third, the finding that perceptions of danger served as psychological mediators of behavioral problems, suggests that ef- forts to increase neighborhood safety may be critically important. These perceptions may serve an important adaptive function in eliciting self-protective strategies, prompt- ing both parents and children to take ad-

vantage of educational personal safety programs. Future research needs to address whether such measures are effective deter- rents to perceptions of vulnerability to danger and to development of behavioral problems. Rohe and Burby (1988) found ade- quacy of safety precautions to be strongly related to decreased fear in urban housing projects.

In summary, a neighborhood risk composite predicted children’s misconduct reported by teachers and parents and children’s psychological distress reported by parents and children. These relations appeared to be mediated by parental and child perceptions of the danger present in the neighborhood. The findings underscore the importance of the community context in understanding and mitigating children’s behavioral problems.

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For reprints: Lee Shumow, Ph.D.. Deparhnent of EPCSE, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 601 15

Perceptions of danger: A psychological mediator of neighborhood demographic characteristics

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