Examining the Link between Neighborhood Cohesion and School Outcomes: The Role of Support Coping among African American Adolescent Girls

Abstract

Using data from a sample of 84 urban, female, African American adolescents (mean age = 11.86 years), the present investigation examines neighborhood cohesion and parent and adult social support coping, singly and cooperatively, as resources for school achievement outcomes. Results support previous findings that positive perception of the neighborhood is directly and positively related to increased feelings of school self-efficacy and higher grades. Parent support coping predicted increased school self-efficacy. Furthermore, as neighborhood cohesion increased, the use of adult support coping increased. Further analyses demonstrated that students who were failing reported an increased use of teacher support coping as compared to students with passing grades. The authors discuss the implications of these findings in regard to mentoring programs.