Véronique Dupéré

Neighborhood poverty and suicidal thoughts and attempts in late adolescence

BACKGROUND Suicide tends to concentrate in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and neighborhood disadvantage is associated with many important risk factors for youth suicide. However, no study has directly investigated the link between neighborhood poverty and youth suicidal behaviors, while controlling for pre-existing vulnerabilities. The objective of this study was to determine whether living in a poor neighborhood is associated with suicidal thoughts and attempts in late adolescence over and above background vulnerabilities, and whether this association can be explained by late-adolescence psychosocial risks: depression, social support, negative life events (NLEs), delinquent activities, substance abuse and exposure to suicide. The potential moderating role of neighborhood poverty was also examined. METHOD A subset of 2776 participants was selected from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). Late-adolescence suicidal behaviors and risk factors were self-reported. The 2001 Canadian Census was used to characterize neighborhoods during early and middle adolescence. Late-childhood family and individual controls were assessed through parent-report. RESULTS At the bivariate level, the odds of reporting suicidal thoughts were about twice as high in poor than non-poor neighborhoods, and the odds of attempting suicide were about four times higher. After controlling for background vulnerabilities, neighborhood poverty remained significantly associated with both suicidal thoughts and attempts. However, these associations were not explained by late-adolescence psychosocial risks. Rather, youth living in poor neighborhoods may be at greater risk through the amplification of other risk factors in disadvantaged neighborhoods. CONCLUSIONS Potential explanations for the increased vulnerability of youth living in poor neighborhoods are discussed.

Neighborhood Processes, Self-Efficacy, and Adolescent Mental Health

Self-efficacy beliefs are central to mental health. Because adolescents’ neighborhoods shape opportunities for experiences of control, predictability, and safety, we propose that neighborhood conditions are associated with adolescents’ self-efficacy and, in turn, their internalizing problems (i.e., depression/anxiety symptoms). We tested these hypotheses using three waves of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (N = 2,345). Results indicate that adolescents living in violent neighborhoods tended to report lower self-efficacy beliefs, partly because they were more likely to experience fear in their neighborhood. However, moving out of Chicago neighborhoods marked by violence and low collective efficacy to neighborhoods outside of the city was associated with adolescents’ increased self-efficacy (vs. staying in such neighborhoods), an association explained by adolescents’ school-related experiences. Finally, through self-efficacy, these neighborhood processes had an indirect association with adolescents’ internalizing problems. Results partially support a model linking neighborhood conditions, cognitions about the self, and emotions.

Neighborhood Poverty and Early Transition to Sexual Activity in Young Adolescents: A Developmental Ecological Approach.

This study examined how the link between neighborhood poverty and the timing of sexual initiation varies as a function of age, gender, and background characteristics. A sample of N = 2,596 predominately White Canadian adolescents from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth was used. Sexual initiations occurring between 12 and 15 years old were considered. Results showed that younger adolescent females who lived in poor neighborhoods and who had a history of conduct problems were more likely to report early sexual activity. Peer characteristics partly accounted for this susceptibility. Among adolescent males, no direct neighborhood effects were found, but those who had combined risks at multiple levels appeared more vulnerable. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Stressors and Turning Points in High School and Dropout A Stress Process, Life Course Framework

High school dropout is commonly seen as the result of a long-term process of failure and disengagement. As useful as it is, this view has obscured the heterogeneity of pathways leading to dropout. Research suggests, for instance, that some students leave school not as a result of protracted difficulties but in response to situations that emerge late in their schooling careers, such as health problems or severe peer victimization. Conversely, others with a history of early difficulties persevere when their circumstances improve during high school. Thus, an adequate understanding of why and when students drop out requires a consideration of both long-term vulnerabilities and proximal disruptive events and contingencies. The goal of this review is to integrate long-term and immediate determinants of dropout by proposing a stress process, life course model of dropout. This model is also helpful for understanding how the determinants of dropout vary across socioeconomic conditions and geographical and historical contexts.

Exposure to Neighborhood Affluence and Poverty in Childhood and Adolescence and Academic Achievement and Behavior

Evidence points to associations between the socioeconomic composition of neighborhoods and childrens and adolescents’ development. A minimal amount of research, however, examines how timing of exposure to neighborhood socioeconomic conditions matters. This study used longitudinal data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,364) to explore if timing of exposure (early childhood, adolescence, and cumulative) to neighborhood affluence and poverty had differential associations with childrens achievement and behavior problems concurrently and in adolescence. Results indicate that children in neighborhoods with more affluent residents during early childhood had higher achievement and fewer internalizing behaviors contemporaneously and that these associations endured until adolescence for reading achievement. Long-term exposure to affluent neighborhoods was associated with childrens math and reading achievement in adolescence. Findings are discussed in terms of research and policy implications.

Improving Attention and Preventing Reading Difficulties among Low-Income First-Graders: A Randomized Study

Students’ inattention is predictive of reading problems and of non-response to effective reading intervention. In this randomized study, 58 first-grade classrooms located in 30 schools were assigned to a control condition or to one of two intervention conditions. In these last two conditions, peer-tutoring activities were conducted to improve classroom reading instruction. In one of the intervention conditions, the Good Behavior Game was also implemented to maximize students’ attention during reading lessons. Both interventions were effective: peer-tutoring activities helped students improve their reading skills and attention was generally higher when the Good Behavior Game was implemented. Contrary to expectations however, students identified as inattentive at pretest did not become better readers when the two interventions were implemented.

School Environment and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: A Multilevel Longitudinal Study

OBJECTIVE: It remains unclear whether school environments can influence the emotional health of adolescents. In this large-scale prospective study, we use multilevel modeling to examine whether the school socioeducational environment contributes to the risk of developing depressive symptoms in secondary school students. METHODS: As part of a longitudinal study on school success in disadvantaged communities, 5262 adolescents from 71 secondary schools were followed annually. Socioeducational environment was assessed by a composite measure of social climate, learning opportunities, fairness and clarity of rules, and safety. Depressive symptoms were evaluated by using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale. Multilevel regressions tested the association between school socioeducational environment in grade 8 and depressive symptoms in grades 10 to 11, adjusting for previous depressive symptoms in grade 7 and potential confounders at the individual and school levels. RESULTS: Modest but significant variation in depressive symptoms was found between schools (intraclass correlation = 3.3%). School-level socioeducational environment in grade 8 was predictive of student depressive symptoms in grades 10 to 11, even after adjusting for potential school and individual confounders. This association was slightly stronger for girls. Student perceptions of school socioeducational environment were also predictive of depressive symptoms. Other school-level factors, including school size, were not predictive of depressive symptoms once socioeducational environment was taken into account. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents who attend a secondary school with a better socioeducational environment are at reduced risk of developing depressive symptoms. School environments appear to have a greater influence on risk in adolescent girls than boys.

Méthodes d’analyse du changement fondées sur les trajectoires de développement individuel. Modèles de régression mixtes paramétriques et non paramétriques*

Longitudinal Methods Based on Individual Development Trajectories - Parametric and Non Parametric Mixed Models: Generalized linear mixed models encompass a variety of modern longitudinal analytic approaches based on individual developmental trajectories. These models overcome many important problems inherent to other traditional analysis of longitudinal data. They all rely on two basic levels: the lower one express, through a set of parameters, the individual pattem of change over time (within-individual change), whereas the upper level captures the variations between these parameters describing individual trajectories (between-individual differences in change). However, other characteristics distinguish différent sorts of mixed models, such as their assumptions concerning the distribution of the trajectories within the population. This introductory article presents the basic linear mixed model assuming a normal distribution of the unobserved heterogeneity, and the nonparametric mixture model that relies on a discrete approximation of the unobserved heterogeneity. Before comparing these two models, the first section of the article gives a general description of the notion of individual developmental trajectories.

Efficacy of an Intervention to Enhance Reading Comprehension of Students With High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study examines whether explicit reading comprehension instruction is relevant for students with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Forty-five students (Mage = 9 years) were randomly assigned to two conditions: control or intervention. Those assigned to the intervention condition received instruction on vocabulary, main idea identification, text structure, and anaphoric relations. Compared with their peers in the control condition, students in the intervention condition showed greater improvement on one measure of reading comprehension. They also knew the meaning of more words and were better able to identify main ideas and anaphoric relations, with some of these gains still being detectable at the follow-up. Although additional adaptations appear warranted, students with high-functioning ASD clearly benefited from instruction.

16 Neighborhood Context and the Development of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior

This chapter provides an overview of seminal and recent research on neighborhood characteristics and their associations with the development of criminal and antisocial behavior. It starts with the conceptual background and a discussion of methodological issues in neighborhood research. The remainder of the chapter is organized around three major developmental periods, broadly following Loeber and Le Blanc’s (Crime and Justice 12: 375–473, 1990; Le Blanc and Loeber, Crime and Justice 23:115–198, 1998) notions of onset (behavior problems in early and middle childhood), activation/aggravation (antisocial behavior in adolescence), and desistance (adulthood). We end the chapter with a brief discussion of implications and future research directions.