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16 Neighborhood Context and the Development of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior

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The Development of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior

Abstract

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.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child Study and Human Development, Tufts University, 105 College Avenue, Medford, MA, 02139, USA

    Margaret C. Elliott & Tama Leventhal

  2. School of Psychoeducation, University of Montreal, Pavillon Marie-Victorin, C. P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3C 3J7

    Veronique Dupéré

Authors
  1. Margaret C. Elliott
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  2. Veronique Dupéré
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  3. Tama Leventhal
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Margaret C. Elliott .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychoeducation, University of Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Julien Morizot

  2. Department of Sociology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, New York, New York, USA

    Lila Kazemian

Recommended Readings

Recommended Readings

  • Leventhal, T., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2000). The neighborhoods they live in: The effects of neighborhood residence on child and adolescent outcomes. Psychological Bulletin, 126(2), 309–337.

  • Leventhal, T., Dupéré, V., & Shuey, E. A. (2014). Children in neighborhoods. In Bornstein, M. & Leventhal, T. (Eds.). Ecological Settings and Processes within the Relational, Developmental System (Vol. 4). In Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science, 7th edition (Ed., R. Lerner). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

  • Sampson, R. J., Morenoff, J. D., & Gannon-Rowley, T. (2002). Assessing “neighborhood effects”: Social processes and new directions in research. Annual Sociological Review, 28, 443–478.

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Elliott, M.C., Dupéré, V., Leventhal, T. (2015). 16 Neighborhood Context and the Development of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior. In: Morizot, J., Kazemian, L. (eds) The Development of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08720-7_16

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