About PHDCN

• Overview of the Project
• Enhancing & Archiving PHDCN Data
• PHDCN Data
• Funding Agencies
• PHDCN Research Staff
• PHDCN Archive Staff
• Contact Information
• About the Images Used on this Site

Overview of the Project

The Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) is an interdisciplinary study of how families, schools, and neighborhoods affect child and adolescent development. It was designed to advance the understanding of the developmental pathways of both positive and negative human social behaviors. In particular, the Project examined the pathways to juvenile delinquency, adult crime, substance abuse, and violence. At the same time, the Project also provided a detailed look at the environments in which these social behaviors take place by collecting substantial amounts of data about urban Chicago, including its people, institutions, and resources.

The Project's design consisted of two major components. The first was an intensive study of Chicago's neighborhoods, particularly the social, economic, organizational, political, and cultural structures and the dynamic changes that take place in the structures over time. The second component was a series of coordinated longitudinal studies that followed over 6,000 randomly selected children, adolescents, and young adults to examine the changing circumstances of their lives and the personal characteristics that might lead them toward or away from a variety of antisocial behaviors.

Further information about PHDCN is found in:

Tonry, M., L. E. Ohlin, & D. P. Farrington. 1991. Human Development and Criminal Behavior: New Ways of Advancing Knowledge. Research in Criminology, ed. A. Blumstein & D. P. Farrington. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Earls, F. J., & C. A. Visher. 1997. Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods: A Research Update (PDF) [NIJ Research in Brief]. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice. NCJ 163603 (9).

MacArthur Foundation: Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods

Also, from time to time, documents of historical interest (PDF) from the Project's administrative and background files will be added here.

Enhancing & Archiving PHDCN Data

The PHDCN data and research materials were processed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) at the University of Michigan's Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). A three-year award from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supported the initial archiving of PHDCN data and two summer workshops to train researchers in how to use these data. The National Institute of Justice provides continued support to maintain and further enhance the Project through an interagency cooperative agreement with NACJD.

The NACJD staff are making this large and complex data collection easily accessible to the research community by:

• Building quantitative data files in SAS, SPSS, and Stata formats
• Building fully documented, downloadable codebooks in PDF
• Building a variable-level database that is searchable through this Web site
• Building a PHDCN Bibliography of Data-Related Literature
• Maintaining this dedicated Web site to provide the research community with detailed methodological information about the study, the instruments, and the scales used in key analyses
• Preserving for perpetuity the PHDCN research data and materials

Read Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) Data Now Available (Marz and Stamatel, 2006) for more information about the archiving project.

PHDCN Data

NACJD disseminates the following types of quantitative data from PHDCN. The information provided on the pages listed shows the availability of each of the data components.

• Community Surveys
• Systematic Social Observations
• Infant Assessment Unit
• Longitudinal Cohort Study

Funding Agencies

The PHDCN data collection was funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Other PHDCN research sponsors included:

• Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• National Institute for Early Child Development and Education, U.S. Department of Education
• National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Office of Education Research and Improvement, U.S.Department of Education
• The Harris Foundation
• The Turner Foundation

PHDCN Research Staff

Principal Investigator: Felton J. Earls, M.D., Harvard Medical School

Scientific Directors:

Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Ph.D., Teachers College, Center for the Study of Children and Families, Columbia University

Stephen Raudenbush, Ed.D., Department of Sociology, The University of Chicago

Robert J. Sampson, Ph.D., Department of Sociology, Harvard University

PHDCN Archive Staff

Christopher Maxwell, Ph.D., Associate Research Scientist and Director

Kaye Marz, Research Associate & Project Manager

Sarah Harrison, J.D., Bibliographical & Project Assistant

Brent Phillips, Research Assistant