NCJ Number
224809
Date Published
March 2008
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study used data from the Moving to Opportunity for Fair Housing Demonstration (MTO) Three-City Study to explore the gender differences in outcomes for MTO adolescents.
Abstract
Results indicate that the most common reason participants volunteered for MTO was to get their families away from drugs and gangs; families felt safer overall, and that their new communities had few problems with drug trafficking and crime. In addition, girls in the experimental group reported less psychological distress, anxiety, and substance use, and they were less likely to be arrested than girls in the control group; clear differences were expressed between experimental group movers’ concerns and those of families still in high-poverty neighborhoods about harassment and pressure on adolescents--especially girls--to become sexually active. Finally, girls who moved from high- to lower-poverty neighborhoods also benefited from a dramatic change in their level of “female fear.” In contrast, adolescent boys in the experimental group reported more behavior problems and substance use, and they were more likely to be arrested for property crimes than boys in the control group. The Federal Government’s MTO was a unique effort to improve the life chances of very poor families with children by helping them leave the disadvantaged environments that contribute to these kinds of poor outcomes. The study combined qualitative interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, and analysis of census and administrative data. It was conducted in three of the five MTO sites: Boston, Los Angeles, and New York. The interviews and ethnographic fieldwork took place in 2004 and 2005, about 6 to 10 years after families’ initial placement through the MTO program. Data were collected from 122 families who volunteered for MTO and 39 control group families. Notes, references and table