U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

National Institute of Justice

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

OFF ICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS

BJA NI J OJJDP BJS OVC

R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

National Institute of Justice

Jeremy Travis, Director February 1997

continued . . .

Issues and Findings

Discussed in this Brief: The key

milestones reached by the Project

on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, an unprecedented longitudinal study

supported by the National Institute

of Justice and the John D. and

Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Key issues: The Project’s 8-year

research study will attempt to determine how individual personalities, family relationships, school

environment, and type of community interact to contribute to delinquency and criminal behavior over

time. In the Project’s first 2 years,

researchers gathered data using

the following measures: a community survey, social observation, a

survey of neighborhood experts,

and interviews with 7,000 children

and adolescents and their primary

caregivers as part of the first wave

of a longitudinal cohort study.

Although the researchers are observing areas throughout Chicago,

they have identified 80 neighborhoods as the focus for the longitudinal cohort study.

Preliminary findings: The community survey drew responses

from more than 8,700 adult residents of neighborhoods throughout Chicago. Respondents

expressed their opinions on topics

such as perceived violence, neighborhood decline, stability and cohesion, signs of disorder, and social

Project on Human Development in

Chicago Neighborhoods: A Research

Update

by Felton J. Earls, Harvard School of Public Health, and Christy A. Visher, National Institute of Justice

How do individual personalities, family

relationships, school environment, and

type of community interact to contribute

to delinquency and criminal behavior?

The Project on Human Development in

Chicago Neighborhoods is an unprecedented longitudinal study that aims to

answer this question by examining the

development of delinquency, criminal behavior, and substance abuse from birth to

young adulthood, with a particular focus

on the effects of community and neighborhood contexts on individual behavior.

The National Institute of Justice, in partnership with the John D. and Catherine

T. MacArthur Foundation, is supporting

this project to generate informed recommendations for crime prevention and intervention strategies.

The Project is combining two studies into

a single integrated design: a series of

data collection efforts at the community

level and a longitudinal cohort study. In

1996, the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods reached

several important milestones. This Research in Brief highlights the Project’s

recent accomplishments and reviews the

status of the Project.1

A study of Chicago’s

neighborhoods

The Project’s unique vision is to examine

individuals and their communities—as

well as individuals in their communities—as both change over time. In 1990,

the Project convened a planning workshop that resulted in a community design

for data collection efforts. Three measures

were developed:

• A community survey of randomly drawn

adult household residents in all neighborhoods in the city limits of Chicago.

• An observational study of a subsample

of 80 neighborhoods from which the longitudinal cohort study sample is being

obtained.

• A survey of neighborhood experts—

leaders in each community—from the 80

neighborhoods in the observational study.

With the help of two subcontractors, Abt

Associates and the National Opinion Research Center, the Project completed

these measures in 1995 and 1996.
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R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

control. This survey will be repeated during the fourth and

eighth years of the study.

A second component of the research, systematic social observation, involves observing and

videotaping more than 27,000

face blocks in the 80 neighborhoods selected for intensive study.

Videotaping was conducted during

the first year; subsequent taping

will occur during the fourth and

eighth years.

The neighborhood expert survey

posed questions to community

leaders in business, religion, law

enforcement, community organization, education, and politics who

have specialized knowledge of

their neighborhoods.

For the longitudinal cohort study,

seven age cohorts—from prenatal

to age 18—will be tracked for 7

additional years so researchers can

examine development from birth

through age 26. Additionally, 500

6-month-old infants are receiving a

comprehensive assessment of their

cognitive abilities, motor skills development, and temperament.

Preliminary results from the community survey show considerable

variation in neighborhood perceptions among residents living in the

same community. Researchers will

be looking at indicators of neighborhood cohesion to see how

these different perceptions affect

neighborhood stability. The researchers recently added a new interview to measure lifetime and

recent exposure to violence.

Target audience: Social scientists;

juvenile delinquency, substance

abuse, and violence specialists and

researchers; and Federal, State,

and local policymakers.

Community survey. For the community

survey, in-person interviews were conducted with more than 8,700 Chicago

residents. Information was gathered on

perceived violence, neighborhood decline, stability and cohesion, signs of disorder, economic and political structure,

neighborhood resources, and social control. Residents were interviewed in all

sections of Chicago, but proportionally

more interviews were conducted in the 80

neighborhoods selected for the longitudinal study. (See “Defining Chicago Neighborhoods.”) The response rate for the

community survey was 78 percent in the

80 selected neighborhoods, with an overall response rate of 73 percent.

Observational study. Systematic social

observation is the second component of

the community design. This innovative

methodology measures each community’s

social organization and how it changes

over time. Observations were made during the first year; subsequent observations will be conducted in the fourth and

eighth years of the study.

A team of six observers videotaped each

“face block” (one side of a block) in the

80 Chicago neighborhoods selected for

intensive analysis; more than 27,000 face

blocks are being studied. Video cameras

affixed to a van recorded life and behavior in each neighborhood from 7 a.m. to 7

p.m., 7 days a week, during the summer

of 1995. The team also kept observer logs

about residents’ activities and how they

related to one another, as well as the appearance of the community, i.e., whether

there was garbage on the streets or sidewalks, if there were abandoned cars, or if

parking rules were being violated. The

initial systematic social observation identified more than 200 variables, including

features of the face block, presence of

people, predominant land use (i.e., commercial or residential), and people’s reaction to the van.

Expert survey. The neighborhood expert survey asked systematic questions of

residents who, based on their leadership

roles in the community, have specialized

knowledge of their neighborhoods’ social

characteristics. The design called for interviews with experts in six areas: education, religion, business, politics, law

enforcement, and community organization. Experts were randomly selected

Defining Chicago Neighborhoods

n order to measure community

characteristics for the cohort study, the

researchers had to define neighborhoods

within Chicago’s 77 commonly recognized community areas. Using the city’s

1990 census data, the researchers divided

the 77 areas into 343 neighborhood clusters—areas that are similar in characteristics such as income, family structure, and

race and ethnicity—with average populations of 8,000. The researchers then

analyzed each cluster in terms of socioeconomic status, dependence on public

assistance, unemployment rates, and race

I and ethnicity. This analysis helped researchers identify 80 neighborhoods that showed

sufficient demographic variability across clusters, which will enable later measures to detect neighborhood effects.

The Project’s community survey of more

than 8,700 adult residents encompassed all

343 neighborhood clusters. To ensure that

the residents were spread equally across the

clusters, researchers surveyed a minimum

number of adults from each neighborhood

cluster.

Issues and Findings

continued . . .
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R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

from a list of identified community

leaders; this list was augmented by

other knowledgeable persons in the

community who were nominated by the

initial respondents to the neighborhood expert survey. Interviews were

completed with 2,822 experts, for a

completion rate of 86 percent.

Additional data. These three data

sets pertaining to the community are

being prepared for analysis. In addition to completing these three surveys,

the Project acquired police incident

files for 1990–1995. Public health

and other official records also were obtained. Census data for 1990, such as

poverty concentration and ethnic residence patterns, have been matched to

Chicago’s neighborhood areas, including the 80 neighborhoods in the study.

(See “Preliminary Results From the

Community Survey.”)

The cohort study

Enrolling Project participants.

The Project’s participants in the longitudinal cohort study are drawn from

the 80 identified neighborhoods previously discussed. Equal numbers of

males and females in seven age cohorts (birth, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18

years) are being selected from AfricanAmerican, Hispanic, white, and mixed

ethnic communities and from all social

classes within these communities. The

Project is on course to enroll and interview 7,000 subjects and their primary caregivers by February 1997.

Interviews in the first year include

questions about impulse control and

sensation-seeking traits, cognitive and

language development, leisure activities, delinquency and substance use,

friends’ activities, and self-perception,

attitudes, and values. Interviews with

caregivers focus on family structure,

parent characteristics, parent-child

relationships, parent discipline style,

family mental health, and family history of criminal behavior and drug use.

Project participants and caregivers are

interviewed separately; interviews are

given in English, Spanish, or Polish.

Intensive assessment. As part of

Wave 1, the Project also is completing

intensive assessments of 500 infants

aged 6 months and their primary

caregivers. A separate unit of specially

trained research assistants is gathering

information on each infant’s growth

and health, cognitive capabilities, and

motor skills. The unit is also videotaping the interaction between infants and

caregivers. This assessment responds

to the Attorney General’s strong interest in the development of infants and

children during the period from birth

to age 3 and how these processes may

be linked to later delinquency and

criminal behavior.

As projected, the researchers encountered several challenges during the

startup phase, including overcoming

community resistance to research in

minority urban neighborhoods, daily

According to preliminary results of the Project’s community survey, a

community’s ability to act collectively to achieve common goals may be related to its

rates of victimization, delinquency, and crime.

Preliminary results from 6,700 of the more than 8,700 residents surveyed revealed the

following about their perceptions of signs of neighborhood disorder:

Problem Percent who said it was a major problem

drug dealing ................................................................................................... 36

loitering youths .............................................................................................. 28

trash, litter, and broken glass

on the sidewalks and streets ........................................................................... 27

public drinking ............................................................................................... 25

graffiti ............................................................................................................ 21

vacant houses ................................................................................................ 16

Preliminary results from questions about victimization indicated that 14 percent of

residents had been victimized by violence; of those, 6 percent said they had been victimized in the last 6 months.

Another component of the survey addressed residents’ perceptions of police relations,

particularly police responsiveness, whether police are doing a good job, how officers

deal with victims, and law enforcement’s ability to maintain order on the streets. According to the preliminary results, the majority of residents agreed or strongly agreed

that police in the neighborhood were responsive to local issues and that they were

doing a good job of dealing with residents’ concerns. However, some neighborhood

clusters rated police relations more positively than others.

Preliminary Results From the Community Survey
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R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

monitoring of a complex array of field

operations, and coordinating data

management activities. The only significant revision in the research design

was a decision to reduce the number of

age cohorts from nine to seven (the age

21 and age 24 cohorts were eliminated). The researchers hope to be

able to increase the followup period in

the study’s later years to offset the loss

of the young adults. However, because

each age group is tracked for 8 years,

the age 18 cohort will be assessed annually up to age 26.

Designs for 1997

Planning for the Project’s third year

began in the summer of 1996, including pilot testing new sections of the

interview. In addition to gathering second-year information on topics covered

during the first interview, the Project

also will gather details on participants’

exposure to violence in community,

school, and family environments. The

exposure-to-violence interview, created specifically for this Project, will

assess both witnessing and experiencing violent events.2

 In Wave 2, Project

participants will also be questioned

about a wide range of life events and

social stressors, perceived self-competence, health, and ethnic identity.

Community characteristics. Analyses of data collected thus far have begun, particularly of the vast amounts of

information gathered concerning characteristics of Chicago’s communities,

community-based crime and victimization statistics, and census data. (See

“Initial Findings.”) Preliminary analyses reveal considerable variation

among residents living within a neighborhood in their perceptions of neighborhood life, such as whether residents

approve of teenage drinking or drug

use. Such indicators of neighborhood

cohesion may affect neighborhood stability and may be related to neighborhood disorder, decline, and criminal

activity—factors the Project will examine during the next year.

To explore the effects of neighborhoods on individual attitudes and behaviors, including substance abuse

and criminality, the Project plans to

link interview data from the cohort

study to data gathered as part of the

community study. In particular, the

Project is studying the cultural and

economic links to poor mental health

and antisocial behavior by examining

the role of neighborhood decline, mobility, and composition, reduced supervision of youths, poor access to

jobs, and weakened ties to formal and

informal social networks. These initial

analyses are under way; a preliminary

report is expected in spring 1997. In

the past year, the Project team also has

made substantial advances in developing software for data analysis using hierarchical linear modeling procedures.

The Project on Human Development

in Chicago Neighborhoods enjoys

broad local support throughout the

city. Chicago will indeed benefit from

the extensive data being collected in

its communities. Moreover, the research community and the Project’s

sponsors—including its newest sponsor, the National Institute of Mental

Health—are looking forward to the

Project’s results. Preliminary reports

demonstrate that the Project will provide unprecedented information about

the origins of delinquency, substance

abuse, and criminal behavior and how

to design effective strategies for preventive intervention, treatment, rehabilitation, and sanctions.

W hen the researchers combined

census records with responses to the

community survey and expert interviews,

they identified three factors that seem to

be related to a community’s level of informal social control—defined by the researchers as the capacity of a community

to regulate itself according to desired

principles and values, or to realize collective goals. The first factor is concentrated

disadvantage. In many of Chicago’s

neighborhoods, as in those of other large

cities, there is a correlation between race

and poverty, unemployment, and femaleheaded families. The second factor is

ethnicity, which is important in measuring new patterns of immigration. The

third factor is residential stability, or the

Initial Findings

frequency with which residents move in

and out of a neighborhood.

According to results of these preliminary

analyses, concentrated disadvantage and

residential stability appear to be the most

important factors related to levels of informal social control. For example, areas

with a high concentration of disadvantage and high residential instability had

lower levels of informal social control.

The findings also indicate that informal

social control has a significant negative

effect on levels of crime. Areas that were

found to have high levels of informal social control had relatively lower rates of

crime, delinquency, and victimization.
5

R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

Notes

1. A technical report, which discusses

the sampling plan, measurement strategies, and pilot analyses, is available

in limited quantities from the National

Criminal Justice Reference Service.

Call 800–851–3420 to request a copy.

2. The pilot testing of this new survey

and some preliminary analyses are

discussed in Assessing the Exposure of

Urban Youth to Violence, NIJ Research

Preview, November 1996, FS 000161.

The sidebar material was presented in

a Research in Progress seminar by

Robert Sampson, entitled “Communities and Crime: A Study in Chicago,”

in April 1996. This videotape is available from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, NCJ 156924,

$19 U.S., $24 Canada and other countries.

Findings and conclusions of the research reported here are those of the authors and do not

necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

This project was supported under

award 93–IJ–CX–K005 from the

National Institute of Justice, Office

of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, to the Project on

Human Development in Chicago

Neighborhoods. Felton J. Earls is

Director of the Project on Human

Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) and a professor

at the Harvard School of Public

Health. Christy A. Visher is Program Manager for PHDCN and

Science Adviser to the Director,

National Institute of Justice. The

Project team also includes Albert J.

Reiss, Yale University (Co-Director);

Stephen Buka (Co-Principal Investigator), Harvard School of Public

Health; Daniel Kindlon (Research

Associate), Harvard School of Public

Health; Robert Sampson, University

of Chicago (Scientific Director for

Community Design); and Stephen

Raudenbush, Michigan State University (Scientific Director for Analysis).

For more information about the

Project, write PHDCN, Harvard

School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115.

The National Institute of Justice is a

component of the Office of Justice

Programs, which also includes the Bureau

of Justice Assistance, Bureau of Justice

Statistics, Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for

Victims of Crime.

NCJ 163603