Volume 32, Issue 3: June, 2005

Abstract

Relationships Among Youth Assets and Neighborhood and Community Resources

Michelle Crozier Kegler, DrPH, MPH, Roy F. Oman, PhD, Sara K. Vesely, PhD, Kenneth R. McLeroy, PhD, Cheryl B. Aspy, PhD, Sharon Rodine, MEd, LaDonna Marshall

Recent research suggests that a youth development framework emphasizing youth assets may be a promising intervention strategy for preventing adolescent risk behaviors. Understanding how neighborhood and community resources relate to youth assets may aid in identifying environmental strategies to complement individually oriented asset-building interventions. In this study, 1,350 randomly selected inner-city youth and their parents (paired interviews) were interviewed in person. After controlling for demographic characteristics of youth and parents using multivariate logistic regression, parental perception of neighborhood safety was associated with the nonparental adult role model asset, peer role model asset, and for African American youth, the community involvement asset. City services and neighborhood services were associated with use of time (groups/sports) and use of time (religion), respectively. Psychological sense of community was associated with community involvement for Native American youth. Findings suggest that neighborhood and community-level influences should be considered when designing youth development interventions to reduce risk behaviors.