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Youth Development and Neighborhood Influences Challenges and Opportunities (1996) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

Assessing Change and Development Within Neighborhoods
Pages 16-20

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 16...
... Ethnographic research suggests that census tracts are not neighborhoods in any sociological sense, yet often census data provide the only empirical measure of neighborhood units in studies that seek to study communities over time. Measures that can assess the direction and rate of economic or social change within communities are particularly important in determining interim outcomes of community development programs as well as of programs designed to enhance successful outcomes for youth.
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From page 17...
... In contrast, communities that share demographic and economic characteristics but experience low levels of trust, security, and shared values can send ambiguous or mixed messages to youth that reduce their chances for academic success and productive employment. The participants cautioned that levels of social organization are themselves influenced by macrostructural forces that shape communities, such as industrial restructuring, shifts in employment opportunities, patterns of racial segregation, and changes in inflation rates and health-care costs.
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From page 18...
... Youth today are highly mobile they may reside in one neighborhood, attend school in another, socialize with peers in a third, and be employed in a fourth. The interactive effects of these different contextual settings have not been analyzed, although the workshop participants observed that the social interactions and normative standards that shape each environment may influence youth development.
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From page 19...
... in judging the overall quality of a social environment. SAMPLING AND TIMING IN MEASURES OF COMMUNITY CHANGE The dynamic and interactive nature of social settings requires caution in developing appropriate measurement instruments, the participants noted.
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From page 20...
... But the predictive capacities of these models are limited and few opportunities exist to study interactive social patterns within and between communities over time. The workshop participants noted that a new generation of neighborhood studies is under way, based on integrated, multidisciplinary, life-span models of neighborhood effects.
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Key Terms

  • youth development
  • employment opportunities
  • social interactions
  • child care
  • participants observed

  • mixed messages
  • social organization
  • friendship networks
  • data provide
  • shared values

  • research instruments
  • social context
  • including youth
  • multiple social
  • census data

  • traditional variables
  • interpersonal elements
  • experience low
  • longitudinal studies
  • academic success

  • normative standards
  • social disorganization
  • community change
  • economically deprived
  • neighborhood effects

  • selected communities
  • enhance successful
  • reflect components
  • boundaries constitute
  • adult burdens


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