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Relations among Perceptions of Neighborhood Cohesion and Control and Parental Monitoring across Adolescence

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Abstract

Social disorganization theory argues that disadvantaged neighborhoods will have less cohesion and control, and therefore will be less conducive to effective parental monitoring. This study aims to test these relationships using four waves of the Pitt Mother and Child Project (ages 11, 12, 15, and 17). The sample consists of 185 low-income males and their parents, 56.44% of whom identify as White, and 34.67% of whom identify African American. Crossed-lagged path models were estimated and the indirect effect of neighborhood disadvantage on parental monitoring through neighborhood cohesion and control was estimated. Separate models were estimated for parental and adolescent perceptions of parental monitoring. The results demonstrate a positive relationship between parental perception of neighborhood social cohesion and parental monitoring, and a negative relationship found between parental perceptions of neighborhood social control and parental monitoring in both models. The findings of this study suggests that neighborhoods may be an important target for interventions that are aiming to improve parental monitoring and ultimately adolescent outcomes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to hank Drs. John Wallace, Christopher Browning and Aidan Wright for their comments and suggestions on this manuscript.

Authors’ Contributions

JB Conceived of the study, completed all data analysis and drafted the manuscript; DS Participated in the design of the study, is the PI of the Pitt Mother and Child Project, data used in the analysis and helped draft the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This study was funded by The National Institute of Drug Abuse K01 DA041468-01A1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work, 4200 5th Ave., Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

    Jaime M. Booth

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 210S Bouquet Street, 4101 Sennott Square, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

    Daniel S. Shaw

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  1. Jaime M. Booth
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Correspondence to Jaime M. Booth.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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IRB approval was obtained to conduct this retrospective analysis. All procedures performed in the Pitt Mother & Child Project were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (include name of committee + reference number) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Booth, J.M., Shaw, D.S. Relations among Perceptions of Neighborhood Cohesion and Control and Parental Monitoring across Adolescence. J Youth Adolescence 49, 74–86 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01045-8

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