Neighborhoods, Adults, and the Development of Civic Identity in Urban Youth

Civic identity is presented as a key construct for understanding adolescent development. We argue that high-poverty, urban neighborhoods make it difficult for youth to develop civic identities. Hypotheses regarding the effects of poverty and urbanicity on the development of civic identity are tested in analyses of the National Household Education Survey of 1999. Results from the analyses demonstrate that youth from urban neighborhoods are less likely than their suburban and rural counterparts to participate in community service. In addition, youth in poor neighborhoods have lower levels of civic knowledge and are less politically tolerant than youth in affluent neighborhoods.