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Neighborhood research has increasingly emphasized the potential for contextual characteristics to moderate the effects of youths' experiences on their outcomes. Drawing on collective efficacy theory, we examine the variable consequences of youths' exposures to life-threatening violence across neighborhoods. We argue that strong community normative orientations supporting the control of violence diminish the negative effect of exposure to severe violence on subsequent mental health among urban youth. We also consider the extent to which the consequences of exposure to violence vary by gender. Employing data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, we estimate a series of multivariate, multilevel linear models of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Results indicate that, for girls, exposure to life-threatening violence (witnessing someone being attacked with a weapon or shot) increases both internalizing and externalizing symptoms. However, this effect achieves statistical significance only for girls who reside in neighborhoods with lower collective efficacy. For boys, our analyses offered weaker evidence of violence exposure effects on mental health. Implications for research on the social context of mental health are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial discrimination has serious negative consequences for the adjustment of African American adolescents. Taking an ecological approach, this study examined the linkages between perceived racial discrimination within and outside of the neighborhood and urban adolescents' externalizing and internalizing behaviors, and tested whether neighborhood cohesion operated as a protective factor. Data came from 461 African American adolescents (mean age = 15.24 years, SD = 1.56; 50 % female) participating in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. Multilevel models revealed that perceived discrimination within youth's neighborhoods was positively related to externalizing, and discrimination both within and outside of youth's neighborhoods predicted greater internalizing problems. Neighborhood cohesion moderated the association between within-neighborhood discrimination and externalizing. Specifically, high neighborhood cohesion attenuated the association between within-neighborhood discrimination and externalizing. The discussion centers on the implications of proximal stressors and neighborhood cohesion for African American adolescents' adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The federal child care subsidy program, funded through the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), is the nation's largest public investment in early child care. However, little is known about whether and how subsidy payment mechanisms relate to the stability of subsidy receipt or the stability of children's care arrangements. Objective: This study is the first to explore whether subsidized care administered through contracts paid directly to providers is associated with greater stability of subsidy receipt than subsidized care administered through vouchers. Hypotheses predicted that contracts would confer stability in subsidy receipt, especially among families whose children received care in family child care homes. Methods: Data were drawn from administrative files on subsidy recipients in New York City and merged with data from a phone survey of a small subsample. The analytic sample consisted of subsidy recipients who had a history of participating in the TANF cash assistance program (weighted n = 9,087; unweighted n = 311). Results: Results indicate that subsidy payment mechanism was not associated with the number of interruptions in subsidy receipt. This finding held true of children in both family- and center-based care arrangements. Conclusions: This preliminary study finds no evidence that contracted care and care purchased with a voucher are differentially associated with subsidy stability. Replication of this test with larger samples and stronger guards against selection into type of payment mechanism is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]