Navigating dangerous streets: The sources and consequences of street efficacy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

148 Scopus citations

Abstract

The concept of street efficacy, defined as the perceived ability to avoid violent confrontations and to be safe in one's neighborhood, is proposed as a mechanism connecting aspects of adolescents' "imposed" environments to the choices they make in creating their own "selected" environments that minimize the potential for violent confrontations. Empirical models using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods suggest that street efficacy is substantially influenced by various aspects of the social context surrounding adolescents. Adolescents who live in neighborhoods with concentrated disadvantage and low collective efficacy, respectively, are found to have less confidence in their ability to avoid violence after controlling for an extensive set of individual- and family-level factors. Exposure to violence also reduces street efficacy, although it does not explain the association between collective efficacy and individual street efficacy. Adolescents 'confidence in their ability to avoid violence is shown to be an important predictor of the types of environments they select for themselves. In particular, adolescents with high levels of street efficacy are less likely to resort to violence themselves or to associate with delinquent peers.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)826-846
Number of pages21
JournalAmerican Sociological Review
Volume71
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2006
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Sociology and Political Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Navigating dangerous streets: The sources and consequences of street efficacy'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this