Ph.D. Student Pursues Specialization in Educational Policy and Social Context

Cohort 1 Ph.D. Student Maria Parente has been informed that her Second Year Research Paper, "Residential Mobility and Exposure to Neighborhood Crime: Risks for Young Children’s Aggression," will be published in the Journal of Community Psychology.

Abstract

This three-year longitudinal study investigated associations between residential mobility, neighborhood crime, and aggression during middle childhood. Participants were 460 children (M age = 6.9 years, SD = 1.1) residing in a disadvantaged city in the Northeastern United States. Residential mobility was determined from school records, teachers provided ratings of aggression, and city police reports of call complaints provided information on neighborhood crime. Neighborhoods were classified as average or high crime. Results showed that mobility and neighborhood crime were significantly (p < .05) related to boys’ (but not girls’) aggression. Boys’ aggression was relatively high if they:

(1) moved;
(2) had stable residence in a high crime neighborhood, and
(3) both moved and lived in high crime.

Net of demographic characteristics and baseline adjustment, boys who moved from an average to high crime neighborhood showed particularly high aggression.

Ms. Parente's research interests include youth out-of-school activities, self-care, and neighborhood structural characteristics. She is advised by Associate Professor Joseph Mahoney.