Economic Disadvantage and Homicide: Estimating Temporal Trends in Adolescence and Adulthood.

Although research has established economic disadvantage as one of the strongest, most robust predictors of urban violence, the conditions under which this relation holds need further elaboration. This study examines the disadvantage-violence link across age-specific transitional periods from adolescence to adulthood and provides theoretical arguments for why the strength of this relation should decline with age. Using 90 of the largest cities in the United States, the present study analyzes the impact of economic disadvantage and other urban conditions (residential instability, family disruption, and population heterogeneity) on age-specific homicide counts from 1984 to 2006. The analytical strategy incorporates temporal trends by using negative binomial fixed-effects regression models. The results reveal a consistent decline from adolescence to adulthood in the strength of the estimated effects of economic disadvantage, residential instability, and family disruption on homicide trends. The findings are discussed in terms of the implications for future research and public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]