Fei Pei (SPM) PI and Steve Dorus (BIO), Collaborator, Is Our Living Environment Safe? Longitudinal Changes of Neighborhood
A robust body of previous studies discussed the cross-sectional relationships between various types of neighborhood factors and individual behaviors. However, research on the long-term dynamic changes within neighborhoods is rare as most theories focus on the influence of neighborhood factors on individual behaviors rather than understanding the neighborhood environment itself. Additionally, parenting stress may be particularly salient for families living with lower income and single-parent households. Therefore, by taking a strengths-based perspective, the proposed study will answer important new questions about the longitudinal changes in neighborhood crime rate, as well as the relationship between neighborhood crime rate and maternal parenting stress. The future of Family & Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS, previous Fragile Family dataset) will be used to estimate the Growth Curve Model (GCM). Capturing such trajectory is the first step to understand the longitudinal influences of neighborhood factors on child development and an individual’s wellbeing. Using the GCM represents a new way to more realistically model the dynamic living environment, shedding light on our limited understanding of the complex, changing patterns of neighborhood crime rate over time.