Neighborhood Physical Disorder and Early Delinquency Among Urban Children

• Author: Sarah Gold,Lenna Nepomnyaschy
• Published date: 01 August 2018
• Date: 01 August 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12487

S G  L N Rutgers School of Social Work

Neighborhood Physical Disorder and Early

Delinquency Among Urban Children

The neighborhoods in which children grow

up have consequences for their short- and

long-term well-being. Although most neigh-

borhood research measures disadvantage at

the census tract level, more proximate physical

characteristics of neighborhoods may be more

relevant indicators of neighborhood quality

for the well-being of young children. Using the

Fragile Families and Child WellbeingStudy, this

study explores the association between these

more proximate indicators of neighborhood

physical disorder measured across childhood

(ages 3 to 9) and early delinquency at age 9.

Descriptive results (N=2,989) indicate that

exposure to neighborhood physical disorder

across childhood is common among children

in urban areas. Multivariate analyses suggest

that exposure to neighborhood physical disor-

der, particularly for older children, is strongly

associated with a higher likelihood of engage-

ment in early delinquent behaviors, over and

above family and census tract-level measures

of disadvantage. Associations remain robust to

numerous supplementary analyses and alternate

specications.

Early delinquency, engagement in delinquent

behaviors by children between ages 7 and 12

(Loeber & Farrington, 2000; Lucero, Barrett, &

Rutgers School of Social Work, 536 GeorgeSt., New

Brunswick, NJ 08901 (sgold@ssw.rutgers.edu).

Key Words: child well-being, delinquency, fragile families,

housing, neighborhoods, youth.

Jensen, 2015), is associated with a host of nega-

tive outcomes later in life, including risky health

behaviors, unemployment (Bradshaw,Schaeffer,

Petras, & Ialongo, 2010), high school drop-out,

criminal justice involvement (Loeber & Farring-

ton, 2000), and being a victim of crime (Loeber

et al., 1999). Although some delinquent behav-

iors are normative (e.g., alcohol consumption;

Kann et al., 2016), children who engage in such

behaviors at a young age have two to three times

the risk of becoming chronic, serious offenders

(Loeber & Farrington, 2000) and increased

chances of being incarcerated (Piquero, Farring-

ton, Nagin, & Moftt, 2010). Identifying risk

factors for early delinquency can help target

interventions, preventing these behaviors and

improving long-term outcomes of youth.

A large body of research suggests that

neighborhood characteristics, such as cen-

sus tract-level poverty or unemployment, are

associated with delinquent behaviors among

adolescents (e.g., Jones & Lynam, 2009; Vogel

& South, 2016). Recent research moves beyond

just the census tract in which children live to

explore associations between the characteristics

of “extralocal” neighborhoods, those within

100 miles of a census tract, and teenagers’

engagement in criminal behaviors (Vogel &

South, 2016). Although characterizing neigh-

borhoods at the census tract and extralocal

levels is appropriate for the study of adoles-

cents’ behaviors because they are likely to be

exposed to environments further from their

homes, younger children are generally more

tied to the local area and may be more likely to

attend school in their neighborhoods. Because

Journal of Marriage and Family 80 (August 2018): 919–933 919

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12487