A questionnaire to measure factors that protect youth against stressors of inner-city life.

This study reports the development of the My Life Questionnaire (MLQ), a self-report measure of factors that protect inner-city youth against stressors such as poverty, crime, and violence. An initial pool of 23 items reflecting important protective factors was developed through focus groups with inner-city youth and clinicians working with them in a school-based mental health program. Item-total correlations and factor analysis resulted in a 12-item measure containing three factors: avoiding negative peer influences, focusing on the future, and religious involvement. Scores on the MLQ were negatively correlated with behavioral problems, supporting its validity. The measure holds promise for use in clinical and research efforts with disadvantaged urban youth.

Life experiences among urban adolescents: examining the role of context.

Interest in the influence of context on the psychosocial development of adolescents led to the examination of neighborhood effects on the experience of adolescent life stress. Because of concerns regarding the population and ecological validity of existing measures of adolescent life events, the research group developed a scale for the measurement of life events among urban adolescents based on data from focus group interviews in the community of interest. Investigators utilized three strategies to examine the impact of neighborhood on adolescents' perceptions of life stress in a sample of 114 adolescents (mean age = 15). Results indicated that life stress in the peer domain varied by the adolescent's neighborhood of residence. In addition, family/community stress was linearly related to neighborhood indices of economic resources.

Adolescent substance use: preliminary examinations of school and neighborhood context.

In considering the influences of microsystems on adolescent substance use, familial and peer contexts have received the most extensive attention in the research literature. School and neighborhood settings, however, are other developmental contexts that may exert specific influences on adolescent substance use. In many instances, school settings are organized to provide educational services to students who share similar educational abilities and behavioral repertoires. The resulting segregation of students into these settings may result in different school norms for substance use. Similarly, neighborhood resources, including models for substance use and drug sales involvement, may play an important role in adolescent substance use. We briefly review literature examining contextual influences on adolescent substance use, and present results from two preliminary studies examining the contribution of school and neighborhood context to adolescent substance use. In the first investigation, we examine the impact of familial, peer, and school contexts on adolescent substance use. Respondents were 283 students (ages 13 to 18) from regular and special education classrooms in six schools. Although peer and parental contexts were important predictors of substance use, school norms for drug use accounted for variance in adolescent use beyond that explained by peer and parental norms. Data from a second study of 114 adolescents (mean age = 15) examines neighborhood contributions to adolescent substance use. In this sample, neighborhood indices did not contribute to our understanding of adolescent substance use. Implications for prevention are presented.