Education

Kirk and Laub (2010) observed that community effects on crime should be studied as dynamic processes as communities change. The present research examined schools ’ role in regulating youth behavior and how community change affects school climate (School Disorder and School Social Bonds; SSB) using social disorganization and social bonds theories. G. Gottfredson, Gottfredson, Czeh, Cantor, Crosse, and Hantman (2000) collected data from a large, national probability sample of schools to examine youth gang problems and school-based intervention and prevention programs. I examined a subsample (N = 269) of these schools. Variables were collected from school rosters and self-report questionnaires. School variables were modeled as latent variables derived from the variance in student responses that is attributed to the school to which the student belonged. Community variables were constructed from the 1990 and 2000 Census data. Multilevel latent variable structural modeling allowed for the examination of individual and community effects on self-reported gang participation. I argued that school characteristics were related to its community’s characteristics, and that school variables contributed to student-reported gang involvement. School characteristics were als