Neighborhood participation in community development: A comparison of strategic approaches

This study compares the ability of community development corporations to mobilize residents of low income neighborhoods to participate in redevelopment efforts. The evidence and argument show that community development corporations have not been more successful than other types of community-based organizations in (1) the degree to which organizational leadership has been recruited from the neighborhood; (2) the type of control exercised by residents over redevelopment policy, and; (3) the degree of fiscal autonomy achieved by the organization. The policy ramifications of the findings are discussed and analyzed.     

Unemployment and social problems in the post-war United States

This paper examines the impact of unemployment on social problems in the post-war United States. Working within a conceptual framework derived from sociological and economic theory, dynamic macro social indicator models are constructed for four social problems-rates of suicide, homicide, divorce and alcoholism. In general, the results do not indicate a strong and consistent relationship between the unemployment rate and these social problems. High or increasing unemployment rates tend to raise the suicide rate, but lower the alcoholism rate and have no appreciable effect on the divorce rate. High levels of unemployment lower the homicide rate, but increases in unemployment tend to raise it. For all social problems except the divorce rate, the level of economic inequality has a consistently positive influence.     

Attempts to promote residential water conservation with educational,behavioral and engineering strategies

The water meters of 129 residences were read for 70 consecutive days. After five weeks of baseline, state-of-the-art education, feedback, and engineering interventions were applied according to the factorial design: 2(Education versus No Education) × 2(Daily Consumption Feedback versus No Feedback) × 2(Low Cost Conservation Devices versus No Devices). Significant water savings occurred following only the installation of low cost water conservation devices, although the amount of water saved with these devices (a daily average of 17 gallons) was much less than expected. The findings are discussed with reference to the development of cost-effective water conservation programs.This research was supported by Grant No. SPI-8003981 from the National Science Foundation. The authors are sincerely grateful for professional advice from Drs. Richard A. Winett and Jerard F. Kehoe, and for the special data collection efforts of Lisa Barnett, Steven Churchill, Edward Fleder, Lisa Paterson, Susan Pelton, Stephen Rodock, Jeffrey Shilling, Kenneth Spitz, and Elizabeth Talbott. Reprint requests should be addressed to Scott Geller, Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061. All booklet, questionnaire and information materials used in the study are available upon request from the first author.     

Migration and spatial assimilation among u.s. latinos: Classical versus segmented trajectories

We used merged data from the Latino National Political Survey, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and the U.S. census to examine patterns and determinants of interneighborhood residential mobility between 1990 and 1995 for 2,074 U.S. residents of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban ethnicity. In several respects, our findings confirm the central tenets of spatial assimilation theory: Latino residential mobility into neighborhoods that are inhabited by greater percentages of non-Hispanic whites (i.e., Anglos) increases with human and financial capital and English-language use. However, these results also point to variations in the residential mobility process among Latinos that are broadly consistent with the segmented assimilation perspective on ethnic and immigrant incorporation. Net of controls, Puerto Ricans are less likely than Mexicans to move to neighborhoods with relatively large Anglo populations, and the generational and socioeconomic differences that are anticipated by the classical assimilation model emerge more strongly for Mexicans than for Puerto Ricans or Cubans. Among Puerto Ricans and Cubans, darker skin color inhibits mobility into Anglo neighborhoods.     

An Evaluation of Population Estimates in Florida: April 1, 2000

The housing unit (HU) method is the most commonly used method for making small-area population estimates in the United States. These estimates are used for a wide variety of budgeting, planning, and analytical purposes. Given their importance, periodic evaluations of their accuracy are essential. In this article, we evaluate the accuracy of a set of HU population estimates for counties and subcounty areas in Florida, as of April 1, 2000. We investigate the influence of differences in population size and growth rate on estimation errors; compare the accuracy of several alternative techniques for estimating each of the major components of the HU method; compare the accuracy of 2000 estimates with that of estimates produced in 1980 and 1990; compare the accuracy of HU population estimates with that of estimates derived from other estimation methods; consider the role of professional judgment and the use of averaging in the construction of population estimates; and explore the impact of controlling one set of estimates to another. Our results confirm a number of findings that have been reported before and provide empirical evidence on several issues that have received little attention in the literature. We conclude with several observations regarding future directions in population estimation research.     

The interrelationships of positive affect,negative affect,and life satisfaction in an adolescent sample

A total of 266 adolescent students responded to two self-report well-being measures, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson et al., 1988) and the Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (Dew and Huebner, 1994). The findings supported multidimensional models of subjective well-being. Similar to findings with adults and younger children, three separable factors of well-being were identified: positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. Demographic variables correlated differentially with the three factors. Considered together with findings from other research, the results suggest the structural invariance of subjective well-being from middle childhood through adulthood.     

The Role of Life Satisfaction in the Relationship between Authoritative Parenting Dimensions and Adolescent Problem Behavior

Research examining environmental factorsassociated with adolescents' life satisfaction(LS) has revealed that familial variables(e.g., parent-child conflict, familystructure) are crucial correlates. Thepurpose of the current study was to identifyparticular dimensions of authoritativeparenting (strictness-supervision, socialsupport/involvement, and psychological autonomygranting) that are related to LS during early,middle, and late adolescence, as well as toexplore the hypothesis that LS serves as amediator between authoritative parenting andadolescent internalizing and externalizingbehavior. A sample of 1201 middle and highschool students completed self-report measuresassessing these constructs. Results indicatedstatistically significant relationships betweeneach authoritative parenting dimension andadolescent LS. Although all three parentingdimensions were positively related to LS,perceived parental social support emerged asthe strongest correlate. Importantdevelopmental differences were revealed,including the finding that the associationbetween parenting behaviors and adolescents' LSchanged as children aged. Last, LS fullymediated the relationship between socialsupport and adolescent problem behavior andpartially mediated relationships between theremaining authoritative parenting dimensions(i.e., strictness-supervision, psychologicalautonomy granting) and maladaptive adolescentbehavior.     

changes in the propensity to live alone: 1950–1976

The growth in single-person households is a pervasive behavioral phenomenon in the United States in the post-war period. In this paper we investigate determinants of the propensity to live alone, using 1970 data across states for single men and women ages 25 to 34 and for elderly widows. Income level appears to be a major determinant of the propensity to live alone. The estimated cross-state equations track about three-quarters of the increase in the propensity to live alone between 1950-1976and suggest that income growth has been the principal identified influence. Other variables found to affect (positively) the propensity to live alone include mobility, schooling level, and for young people a measure of social climate; non-whites appear to have a somewhat lower propensity to live alone.