The Structural and Cultural Dynamics of Neighborhood Violence

The proposed study will use the NIJ-sponsored Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) 1994-1995 Community Survey (ICPSR Study No. 2766). The Community Survey yielded a probability sample of 8,782 Chicago residents situated in 343 neighborhood clusters, who responded to a series of questions about the characteristics of their neighborhood environments. Using this data, the study seeks to fill gaps in research on violence by modeling the effects of neighborhood structural and cultural factors on violence across the entire spatial context of Chicago, paying attention to whether cultural factors mediate the association between neighborhood structural factors and violence. This study advances previous research by incorporating both a structural and a cultural framework to explain neighborhood violence.

ca/ncf