“Do I belong in my community?” Latino Adolescents' Perceptions of Neighborhood Belonging

This study investigates how community violence exposure, fear of crime, and community-based activity participation contribute to adolescents' sense of neighborhood belonging, and whether neighborhood belonging, in turn, influences adolescents' psychological well-being. The sample consists of 224 Latino 9th graders attending 4 low-resourced, urban schools in the northeastern United States.  As hypothesized, adolescents’ fear of crime was negatively associated with their sense of neighborhood belonging, and a greater sense of neighborhood belonging was associated with fewer depressive symptoms, but not less anxiety.  Further, gender had a moderating effect such that girls who participated in more community-based activities reported a greater sense of neighborhood belonging, while the opposite was true for boys.  Important intervention and policy implications for these findings are discussed.