Brian Soller

“Feeling Disorder” as a Comparative and Contingent Process Gender, Neighborhood Conditions, and Adolescent Mental Health

We explore the effects of neighborhood social disorder on internalizing symptoms among urban youth by focusing on three questions. First, we ask whether the impact of social disorder on internalizing symptoms results from comparisons with conditions measured locally or across the entire city.  Second, we consider whether neighborhood collective efficacy modifies disorder’s effect on internalizing symptoms. Finally,  we assess whether these effects vary by gender. Analyses of survey data on 2,367 youth from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods indicate that social disorder is positively associated with girls’ internalizing symptoms when measured as a deviation from a neighborhood cluster (NC - two to three census tracts) mean. High collective efficacy within girls’ NCs attenuates disorder effects on their internalizing symptoms. We find no evidence of disorder or collective efficacy effects on boys’ internalizing symptoms.

Caught in a Bad Romance Adolescent Romantic Relationships and Mental Health

Integrating insights from cultural sociology and identity theory, I explore the mental health consequences of adolescent romantic relationship inauthenticity—incongruence between thoughts/feelings and actions within romantic contexts. Applying sequence analysis to National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data, I measure relationship inauthenticity by quantifying the extent to which the ordering of events of actual romantic relationships (e.g., holding hands, saying “I love you”) diverges from the sequence of events within idealized relationship scripts among 5,316 adolescents. I then test its association with severe depression, suicide ideation, and suicide attempt. I find that romantic relationship inauthenticity is positively associated with the risk of all three markers of poor mental health, but only for girls. This study highlights the importance of gender and culture in determining how early romantic involvement influences psychological well-being.

Ecological Networks and Neighborhood Social Organization1

Drawing on the social disorganization tradition and the social ecological perspective of Jane Jacobs, the authors hypothesize that neighborhoods composed of residents who intersect in space more frequently as a result of routine activities will exhibit higher levels of collective efficacy, intergenerational closure, and social network interaction and exchange. They develop this approach employing the concept of ecological networks—two-mode networks that indirectly link residents through spatial overlap in routine activities. Using data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey, they find evidence that econetwork extensity (the average proportion of households in the neighborhood to which a given household is tied through any location) and intensity (the degree to which household dyads are characterized by ties through multiple locations) are positively related to changes in social organization between 2000–2001 and 2006–2008. These findings demonstrate the relevance of econetwork characteristics—heretofore neglected in research on urban neighborhoods—for consequential dimensions of neighborhood social organization.

LEGAL CYNICISM AND PARENTAL APPRAISALS OF ADOLESCENT VIOLENCE

Research suggests that legal cynicism—a cultural frame in which the law is viewed as illegitimate and ineffective—encourages violence to maintain personal safety when legal recourse is unreliable. But no study has tested the impact of legal cynicism on appraisals of violence. Drawing from symbolic interaction theory and cultural sociology, we tested whether neighbourhood legal cynicism alters the extent to which parents appraise their children’s violence as indicative of aggressive or impulsive temperaments using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. We find that legal cynicism attenuates the positive association between adolescent violence and parental assessments of aggression and impulsivity. Our study advances the understanding of micro-level processes through which prevailing cultural frames in the neighbourhood shape violence appraisals.

“I Did Not Do It My Way” The Peer Context of Inauthentic Romantic Relationships

The links between culture, social networks, and adolescent romantic relationships are not well understood. This article integrates cultural sociology and network perspectives to explain how cultural features of adolescent peer groups influence adolescent romantic relationship inauthenticity—the extent of incongruence between one’s thoughts/feelings and actions within romantic contexts. Using National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) data, I apply sequence analysis and linear regression models to test whether adolescents experience greater romantic relationship inauthenticity when the ordering of events within ideal romantic relationship scripts (e.g., holding hands, saying “I love you,” having sexual intercourse) diverges from ideal romantic relationship scripts of fellow peer-group members. Results indicate romantic relationship inauthenticity increases as one’s ideal script diverges from fellow peer-group members’ scripts. Importantly, heterogeneity in relationship scripts at the peer-group level was not associated with relationship inauthenticity. This study highlights the roles cultural reinforcement and social network processes play in the link between culture and action.

Violent Peers and Street Efficacy in Legally Cynical Neighborhoods

Neighborhood scholars increasingly focus on legal cynicism—a frame through which the law and its enforcement agents are viewed as illegitimate and ineffective. We investigate how legal cynicism within the residential neighborhood and violent peers jointly inform youths’ perceived ability to safely navigate their neighborhoods—that is, their street efficacy. We propose that youth in neighborhoods with pervasive legal cynicism exhibit diminished street efficacy because they lack confidence that legal social control will benefit them. But youth in legally cynical neighborhoods who rely on an alternative social control—peer violence—may exhibit relatively more street efficacy despite lacking legal recourse. Results from multilevel analyses of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) indicate that in neighborhoods with high levels of legal cynicism, youth who associate with more violent peers exhibit greater street efficacy. But in neighborhoods with low levels of legal cynicism—that is, where legal recourse is a viable social control option and violence likely entails unnecessary risks—youth with more violent peers exhibit less street efficacy. The results suggest that the consequences of peer violence are complex and depend on the extent of legal cynicism within youths’ neighborhoods. The theoretical, empirical, and policy implications of these findings are discussed.

The Influence of Women's Neighborhood Resources on Perceptions of Social Disorder

Research links neighborhood social disorder with poorer health. But factors beyond observed disorder may influence perceptions that social disorder is problematic. This study investigates whether womens aggregate socioeconomic resources relative to mens in the broader neighborhood context attenuate the extent to which more prevalent observed social disorder within the immediate residential neighborhood contributes to perceptions of more problematic social disorder. This attenuation likely is pronounced among women, for whom sexual harassment in public spaces is a more salient concern compared to men. Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, multilevel models analyze individual perceptions of problematic social disorder (N = 3,107) regressed on the interactive effect of observed social disorder within the census block group (N = 525) and womens relative resources within the neighborhood cluster (N = 80). The results show that womens relative resources within the broader neighborhood context protect against womens perceptions that typically undesirable neighborhood conditions are problematic.

Adolescent Dating Violence Victimization and Relationship Dissolution

We integrate literature on gender and adolescent friendships to examine the association between adolescent dating violence victimization (ADVV) and relationship dissolution. In particular, we test whether ADVV increases the hazard of relationship dissolution among adolescent romances, and whether a number of friendship dynamics alter the association between ADVV and relationship dissolution. Using discrete time event history models from 5,787 romantically involved youth from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), results indicated, on average, ADVV was not associated with the hazard of relationship dissolution for girls or boys. However, the positive effect of ADVV was stronger for girls who did not withdraw from their friendships over the course of their romantic relationships. This study highlights the importance of peer groups and gender in shaping youths’ decisions to exit abusive relationships.

Variation in Sexual Double Standards across Schools How Do They Matter for Adolescent Sexual Behavior

The sexual double standard—a condition in which sexual activity is perceived to entail more social benefits for boys and men than for girls and women—has implications for adolescent sexual behavior. We employ an innovative assessment of the sexual double standard, measuring the strength of it across 75 high schools with Add Health data (N = 8,458). Drawing on theories of culture and gender, we test the association between school-based sexual double standards and the number of sexual partners reported by adolescents, paying particular attention to gender differences in the association. Results indicate substantial variation in the strength of the sexual double standard across schools. In addition, boys report greater numbers of sexual partners as the sexual double standard in their school becomes stronger. Conversely, the sexual double standard is not associated with the number of girls’ partners. This study illustrates the interactive roles of gender and culture in shaping adolescent sexual behavior.