Purpose. Child and adolescent obesity is increasingly prevalent and predisposes risk for poor physical and psychosocial health. Physical and social factors in the environment, such as neighborhood disorder, may be associated with childhood obesity. This study examines the association between living in a disordered neighborhood and being overweight among a sample of urban schoolchildren. Design. Baseline interview data, including height, weight, and hip circumference, were obtained from 313 elementary school–aged participants in a community-based epidemiologic study. Setting. The setting was Baltimore, Maryland, a large metropolitan city. Subjects. Subjects were elementary school students ages 8 to 12 years. Measures. To assess neighborhood characteristics, independent evaluators conducted objective environmental assessments using the Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology instrument on the block faces (defined as one side of a city block between two intersections) where the children resided. Analysis. Logistic regression models with generalized estimating equations were used to examine the association between neighborhood disorder and children being overweight. Results. Neighborhood disorder showed a trend toward a statistically significant association with being overweight during childhood (odds ratio [OR], 1.03; confidence interval [CI], .99–1.07; p = .07) in the unadjusted model. Gender was significantly associated with being overweight, with female gender increasing the odds of being overweight by 50% in the sample (OR, 1.50; CI, 1.18–1.92; p < .01). After controlling for race, age, and comparative time spent on a sport, multivariable analyses revealed that gender (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 2.42; CI, 1.63–3.59; p < .01) and neighborhood disorder (AOR, 1.09; CI, 1.03–1.15; p < .01) were associated with being overweight. Further, an examination of interactions revealed girls (AOR, 2.40; CI, 1.65–3.49; p < .01) were more likely to be overweight compared with boys (AOR, 2.20; CI, 1.57–3.11; p < .01) living in neighborhoods with the same level of neighborhood disorder. Conclusion. Results suggest neighborhood hazards warrant additional consideration for their potential as obesogenic elements affecting gender-based disparities in weight among urban schoolchildren. Future studies in this area should include longitudinal examinations.

Background: Disordered neighborhood environments are associated with crime, drug use, and poor health outcomes. However, research utilizing objective instruments to characterize the neighborhood environment is lacking. Objectives: This investigation examines the relationship between objective measures of neighborhood disorder and juvenile drug arrests (JDAs) in an urban locale. Methods: The neighborhood disorder scale was developed using indicators from the Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology (NIfETy) instrument; a valid and reliable tool that assesses physical and social disorder. Data on 3146 JDAs from 2006 were obtained from the police department. Results: Negative binomial regression models revealed a significant association between neighborhood disorder and the count of JDAs in the neighborhood (beta = .34, p < .001). The relationship between neighborhood disorder and JDAs remained significant after adjusting for percent African-Americans in the neighborhood (beta = .24, p < .001). Conclusions: This preliminary investigation identified a positive and statistically significant relationship between an objective measure of neighborhood disorder and JDAs. Future investigations should examine strategies to reduce drug-related crime by addressing the larger neighborhood and social context in which drug involvement and crime occurs.

Motivational theorists in psychology have moved away from individual-based approaches to socio-cognitive and socio-ecological models to explain student engagement and motivation for learning. Such approaches consider, for example, the influence of family and neighborhood environments as important constructs in youth behavior. In this study, links between neighborhood condition (e.g. external appearance of the blocks nearest to the respondents’ home), family dysfunction, and motivation for learning are investigated. Data were obtained from two hundred and sixteen (216) urban African American middle school children enrolled in a substance use prevention intervention. Analytic models show associations between poor neighborhood condition, and both family dysfunction and lower learning motivation, and poor neighborhood condition and lower learning motivation. Family dysfunction was also found to mediate the effect of neighborhood condition on motivated learning. Neighborhood and family characteristics are important determinants of urban schoolchildren’s motivation for learning.

This study examines gender differences in the association between environment and internalizing problems in a sample of predominately African American schoolchildren. Internalizing problems was assessed using the Youth Self Report. Violence and alcohol and other drug (AOD) exposure subscales were created using observational assessments of neighborhood blocks. Logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship between neighborhood environment and internalizing problems. For each AOD item present on the block the odds of internalizing problems among girls increased by 17% (OR = 1.17, CI: 1.01, 1.35, P = 0.039). The relationship was not significant among boys. Violence exposure did not predict internalizing problems in boys or girls. These preliminary findings suggest that primary school-aged girls' emotional well-being is more negatively impacted by deleterious environments. Future investigations will examine the relationship between deleterious neighborhood environments and internalizing problems as the children age into adolescence.

This research examines the relationship between neighborhood physical and social disorder and incarceration history among urban drug users. A cohort of 358 African American and White urban drug users completed a clinical interview and psychological assessment that emphasized cognitive and social-behavioral HIV risk factors. The Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology was used to assess indicators of physical and social disorder. After controlling for age, gender, education, and having a place to live, multivariable analyses revealed that living in a neighborhood with moderate or high levels of disorder (odds ratio [OR] = 1.63; 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.02, 2.59]) and drinking alcohol every day or nearly every day for 3 months or more (OR = 2.03; 95% CI [1.24, 3.31]) were associated with incarceration history. Findings suggest that select characteristics of disadvantaged communities may be important determinants of incarceration vulnerability among urban substance users. Residential improvements hold promise to enhance interventions aimed to reduce incarceration.

Students who engage in high-risk behaviors, including early initiation of sexual intercourse, alcohol use, marijuana use, tobacco use, and externalizing behavior are vulnerable to a broad range of adverse outcomes as adults. Latent class analysis was used to determine whether varying patterns of risk behavior existed for 212 urban African-American students from Baltimore public schools who were recruited as part of a study for the prevention of drug use. A two-class model was estimated. The proportion of the sample bearing a high probability of each of the five risk behaviors was 10.7%; in comparison, the proportion of students with a low probability of the risk behaviors was 89.3%. Controlling for other variables, older age and parental drug or alcohol use was associated with being in the high-risk class, whereas neighborhood was not predictive of latent class. Results from this study may be used to target early adolescents with co-occurring risk behaviors for prevention and treatment.

Data regarding the etiology of problem-based child and adolescent outcomes indicates neighborhood socioeconomic status, land use mix, traffic danger, availability of drugs and alcohol and collective socialization are factors that influence or confound behavior among youth in urban areas. With socio-ecological models in mind, this study examined associations between early sexual initiation and neighborhood condition, externalizing behavior, drug use and perceived peer acceptance of drug use. One hundred and fifteen African American male adolescents (ages 11 to 15) enrolled in a randomized control trial provided the data for analysis. Logistic regression models showed older age, perceived peer acceptance of drug use and externalizing behavior were predictors of early sex initiation. Although physical and social hazards as well as resource depletion in urban centers creates increased risk for poor health and social outcomes among adolescents, no neighborhood effects were found in this study. Interventions to delay sexual initiation among urban African American male adolescents may benefit from focus on both socially, and ecologically, relevant influences.

South Africa continues to be the global epicenter of HIV infection. Further, extensive gender disparities in HIV infection exist with females four times as likely to be infected with HIV/AIDS as males (UNAIDS, AIDS epidemic update, 2006; WHO, Epidemiological fact sheets on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, 2006). A cross-sectional collection of drug users recruited in the Pretoria region of South Africa (N = 385) was used to model HIV infection as a function of sexual risk behaviors and drug use as modified by gender. Receiving money from illicit sources and knowing someone with AIDS were loosely associated with HIV. Gender interactions were observed for age, cocaine use and condom use. Gender stratified analyses revealed that males who used condoms, were younger and tested negative for cocaine use were less likely to test positive for HIV. Findings suggest that males may have more control of risk behaviors and support the need for gender specific prevention strategies.