Project on Human Development in Chicago
Neighborhoods
The Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN)
was a large-scale, 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 causes and pathways of juvenile delinquency,
adult crime, substance abuse, and violence. At the same time, the
project provided a detailed look at the environments in which these
social behaviors took place by collecting substantial amounts of data
about urban Chicago, including its people, institutions, and
resources.
Longitudinal Cohort Study
One component of the PHDCN was the Longitudinal Cohort Study, which
was a series of coordinated longitudinal studies that followed over
6,000 randomly selected children, adolescents, and young adults, and
their primary caregivers over time to examine the changing
circumstances of their lives, as well as the personal characteristics,
that might lead them toward or away from a variety of antisocial
behaviors. The age cohorts include birth (0), 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18
years. Numerous measures were administered to respondents to gauge
various aspects of human development, including individual
differences, as well as family, peer, and school influences.
Young Adult Self Report (YASR)
The data files contain information from the Young Adult Self Report
(YASR) protocol. The YASR was an extension of the Youth Self Report,
designed to obtain a self perceived assessment for subjects between
the ages of 18 and 30 in order to measure behavioral and emotional
functioning. The widely used YASR has been shown in a variety of
experiments to produce excellent results evaluating its respondents'
psychological and behavioral functioning. As a result, it proved to be
the ideal instrument to evaluate the subjects belonging to Cohort 18
of the Longitudinal Cohort Study. In Wave 2 of the PHDCN, the YASR
focused primarily on obtaining information on specific aspects of the
respondents' lives, such as interpersonal relationships and conflicts,
tendencies toward various behavior problems, and habits regarding
nonmedical drug and alcohol consumption. The YASR also sought to
identify personality traits and behaviors that might be viewed as
unusual. The goal of the YASR was to obtain an overall score for each
respondent based on the answers provided that could be used to make
observations and determinations regarding their psychological,
emotional, and behavioral health and overall quality of life.
Project on Human Development in Chicago
Neighborhoods
The city of Chicago was selected as the research site for the PHDCN
because of its extensive racial, ethnic, and social-class diversity.
The project collapsed 847 census tracts in the city of Chicago into
343 neighborhood clusters (NCs) based upon seven groupings of
racial/ethnic composition and three levels of socioeconomic status.
The NCs were designed to be ecologically meaningful. They were
composed of geographically contiguous census tracts and geographic
boundaries, and knowledge of Chicago's neighborhoods were considered
in the definition of the NCs. Each NC was comprised of approximately
8,000 people.
Longitudinal Cohort Study
For the Longitudinal Cohort Study, a stratified probability sample
of 80 neighborhoods was selected. The 80 NCs were sampled from the 21
strata (seven racial/ethnic groups by three socioeconomic levels) with
the goal of representing the 21 cells as equally as possible to
eliminate the confounding between racial/ethnic mix and socioeconomic
status. Once the 80 NCs were chosen, then block groups were selected
at random within each of the sample neighborhoods. A complete listing
of dwelling units was collected for all sampled block groups.
Pregnant women, children, and young adults in seven age cohorts
(birth, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 years) were identified through
in-person screening of approximately 40,000 dwelling units within the
80 NCs. The screening response rate was 80 percent. Children within
six months of the birthday that qualified them for the sample were
selected for inclusion in the Longitudinal Cohort Study. A total of
8,347 participants were identified through the screening. Of the
eligible study participants, 6,228 were interviewed in the Wave 1 data
collection, and 5,338 were interviewed in the Wave 2 data
collection.
Data collection for Wave 2 began in 1997 and ended in 2000. It
included a letter sent to study participants notifying them that they
would be contacted to schedule an interview. This letter explained the
study, reimbursements, and offered a monthly drawing prize of $1,000
for those participants who kept their first scheduled appointment. A
toll free number was also included in the letter, so participants
could call and schedule their own interviews or ask questions.
For all cohorts except 0 and 18, primary caregivers as well as the
child were interviewed. The primary caregiver was the person found to
spend the most time taking care of the child. Separate research
assistants administered the primary caregiver interviews and the child
interviews. The primary method of data collection was face-to-face
interviewing, although participants who refused to complete the
personal interview were administered a phone interview. An abbreviated
telephone interview was conducted for the primary caregivers in
Cohorts 0-15 and Cohort 18 study participants in Wave 2 who lived
outside the nine-county metropolitan area to which research assistants
were able to travel for interviews. A total of 221 telephone
interviews were conducted during Wave 2, representing 3.55 percent of
the sample.
Proxy interviews were conducted with study participants who were
emancipated minors (under 18 but married or living independently). The
study participants answered questions from the primary caregiver's
interview on the primary caregiver's behalf. In Wave 2, four primary
caregivers and two study participants were interviewed in jail. Study
participants in foster care could not be interviewed. The Department
of Children and Family Services did not allow interviews of the foster
parent or the child. Permission was granted for a brief period in
Wave 1, therefore there are some children in the sample who could not
be followed up in Waves 2 and 3. Some children were not in foster care
in Wave 1 but were placed in foster care by Wave 2 or 3. They were
also not followed up. Lastly, some participants were interviewed in
Wave 3 but not in Wave 2, as they were in foster care during Wave 2.
Some participants in Wave 1 spoke a language other than English,
Spanish, or Polish. In Wave 2, an abbreviated version of the primary
caregiver's protocol was administered, and the research assistant
arranged for someone in the household to translate on the spot. In
Wave 2, the complete protocol was translated into Spanish, and a
subset of the primary caregiver's interview was translated into
Polish.
Depending on the age and wave of data collection, participants were
paid between $5 and $20 per interview. Other incentives, such as free
passes to museums, the aquarium, and monthly drawing prizes were also
included.
Interview protocols included a wide range of questions. For
example, some questions assessed impulse control and sensation-seeking
traits, cognitive and language development, leisure activities,
delinquency and substance abuse, friends' activities, and
self-perception, attitudes, and values. Caregivers were also
interviewed about family structure, parent characteristics,
parent-child relationships, parent discipline styles, family mental
health, and family history of criminal behavior and drug use.
Young Adult Self Report (YASR)
Completed between 1994 and 1995, the Young Adult Self Report was
filled out by the subjects belonging to Cohort 18 of the Wave 2 PHDCN
Longitudinal Cohort Study. The PHDCN version of the Young Adult Self
Report consisted of 119 questions, some with multiple parts, and was
designed to obtain information regarding various aspects of the
respondents' psychological and behavioral functioning. Because of the
potentially sensitive nature of much of the information sought by the
YASR, the fact that the YASR was self-administered was important for
ensuring that the respondents would feel comfortable responding
honestly, without the inhibitions and fear of judgment that might have
resulted had the measure been administered by an interviewer.
Respondents were asked to rate themselves on how truthfully each
statement characterized their behaviors, thoughts, and actions.
Respondents rated themselves on nine different facets of psychological
and behavioral functioning. For example, the YASR attempted to record
information indicating whether the respondents could be characterized
by having internalizing problems. To achieve this, subjects were asked
if they believed statements such as "I feel lonely" or "I am shy or
timid" to be true of themselves. The Wave 2 YASR instrument varied
somewhat from the Wave 1 version, including some questions that were
not previously used and omitting others that had been present in the
Wave 1 instrument. The response format was unchanged. The majority of
questions asked the respondent to answer questions in the following
manner: 0 = not true, 1 = somewhat true, and 2 = very true. As in Wave
1, multiple responses were not permitted. The final three questions
pertained to substance abuse. Respondents were asked to disclose the
frequency of their tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drug use within the
past six months.
Stratified probability sample.
Children, adolescents, young adults, and their primary
caregivers, living in the city of Chicago in 1994.
individual
survey data
The Wave 2 data includes, in addition to the
variables containing the responses to the YASR, the same nine scale
variables that appeared in the Wave 1 data. These scale variables give
each respondent a score with respect to the various syndromes that the
YASR attempted to identify. Respondents were assigned a withdrawn
score, somatic problems score, anxious/depressed score, show-off
problems score, delinquent behavior score, aggressive behavior score,
strange behavior score, internalizing score, and an externalizing
score based on their responses to the questions composing the YASR
protocol. The internalizing score variable is a combination of the
anxious/depressed score and the withdrawn score, while the
externalizing score is composed of the delinquent behavior score and
the aggressive behavior score. A tenth variable contains the
respondent's total YASR score, which is simply the sum of the other
nine scores. Higher scores suggest the presence of behavioral and
emotional problems. As such, lower scores are more desirable.
Finally, the data also include a number of administrative variables to
record identification numbers for the respondents and the
interviewers, as well as the time and date that the respondent
completed the YASR.
The overall response rate for Wave 2 of the
Longitudinal Cohort Study was 85.94 percent or 5,338 participants. The
response rates for subjects by cohort were:
- 0 percent for Cohort 0
- 87.5 percent for Cohort 3
- 88.0 percent for Cohort 6
- 85.6 percent for Cohort 9
- 86.2 percent for Cohort 12
- 82.7 percent for Cohort 15
- 80.2 percent for Cohort 18
The response rates for primary caregivers by cohort were:
- 83.3 percent for Cohort 0
- 88.3 percent for Cohort 3
- 88.3 percent for Cohort 6
- 86.6 percent for Cohort 9
- 87.2 percent for Cohort 12
- 85.9 percent for Cohort 15
- 0 percent for Cohort 18