Abstract
This paper briefly reviews the social science on “neighborhood effects” as an independent force in shaping poor outcomes, specifically mental illness and criminal behavior, before discussing the implications of that research for understanding the relationship between neighborhoods, race and class. Neighborhood effects research has proliferated in recent years with extensive attention again being focused on the social context of family and individual development and life course. Moreover, recent work has suggested the need to consider the developmental effects of neighborhoods that persist across life-span. This paper will focus specifically on mental illness and criminal behavior as outcomes for understanding neighborhood effects, but will also consider what the structural causes of individual behavior and functioning mean for clinical assessment, especially forensic assessment.
Highlights
Neighborhood effects research, using an expansive array of data and analyses, has made significant strides in the last twenty-five years (Raudenbush & Sampson, 1999)
We focus on the research related to psychosis, child abuse and witnessing violence, neurotoxicant exposure and criminal behavior
Vol 6, No 3; 2013 race/ethnicity and poverty are interwoven into the research findings, but we address more directly race and class and neighborhoods in considering the pathways and mechanisms by which neighborhoods may be associated with these outcomes
Summary
Neighborhood effects research, using an expansive array of data and analyses, has made significant strides in the last twenty-five years (Raudenbush & Sampson, 1999). This framework argues for a dual import to neighborhoods: first, as the situational context of family and individual life - which has long been how neighborhoods are viewed (Bronfenbrenner, 1977); but second, as influencing the developmental and enduring early life course that shapes long-term development, behavior and health throughout the life of the individual regardless of subsequent neighborhood stability or individual mobility (Sampson, 2008) In considering outcomes such as mental illness and criminal behavior, this dual framework suggests important possibilities for understanding and preventing illness and crime, and is important for clinical and forensic neuropsychiatric practice.
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