Community Support—Chicago Youth Development Study

Abstract

The Community Support—Chicago Youth Development Study (CS-CYDS) measure is a brief, four-item instrument designed to assess an individual’s level of active engagement and integration within their immediate residential Community Support system. Developed as part of the extensive Chicago Youth Development Study (CYDS), this scale focuses specifically on behaviors indicative of neighborhood connectedness, ranging from informal social interactions to formal organizational involvement and volunteerism. It serves as a key indicator of Social capital and protective factors against negative behavioral outcomes, particularly among urban youth populations.

Keywords

Community Support, Neighborhood Engagement, Youth Development, Social Capital, Chicago Youth Development Study, Community Involvement, Violence Prevention, Urban Youth.

Authors

Tolan, Gorman-Smith, Henry

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the CS-CYDS is to quantify the degree to which an individual, typically an adolescent participating in the longitudinal Chicago Youth Development Study, is socially connected and actively participating in neighborhood life. This measurement helps researchers understand the influence of the immediate social environment on developmental trajectories, especially concerning risk and protective factors related to violence and delinquency.

The scale captures two dimensions of engagement: familiarity and informal interaction (knowing neighbors) and formal involvement (participating in organizations or volunteer work). A higher resultant score signifies greater comfort, integration, and engagement within the neighborhood context.

Construct

The scale measures the psychological construct of Community Involvement and Neighborhood Social Integration. This construct encompasses the behavioral manifestation of an individual’s perceived commitment and connection to their block or neighborhood. It is rooted in ecological theory, asserting that strong community ties provide essential social resources and collective efficacy, which are crucial for positive youth development and the mitigation of risk behaviors.

Validity

Specific details regarding the empirical validation of the CS-CYDS are elaborated upon in the technical reports published by the Families and Communities Research Group. Measures developed within the Chicago Youth Development Study framework, including this instrument, typically undergo rigorous testing to ensure they accurately reflect the complex social environments of urban youth.

The instrument is documented in a compendium focused on assessing Violence-Related Attitudes and behaviors, suggesting its validity is often examined in relation to outcomes such as reduced aggression, improved academic performance, and lower rates of delinquency, demonstrating expected correlations with these key variables.

Reliability

The reliability of the Community Support measure was formally documented in a technical report published in 2001. While specific reliability coefficients (such as Cronbach’s Alpha for internal consistency) are not provided in the summary source, the dedicated technical report confirms that the measure achieved acceptable levels of reliability for use in research settings involving urban youth populations.

Reliability testing ensures that the scale consistently measures the construct of community involvement across different administrations and within diverse subgroups of the study population, supporting its utility as a stable assessment tool.

Factor Analysis

Although the scale is very brief (only four items), factor analysis is typically employed in the development of multi-item scales to confirm that the items load onto the intended underlying construct (Community Involvement). Given the mixed response format (Likert and dichotomous items), specific factor analysis techniques, such as confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), would have been necessary to confirm the unidimensionality of the scale, ensuring that both informal and formal involvement items contribute meaningfully to the single factor of neighborhood engagement, as intended by the authors.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-Report Questionnaire/Screening Tool

Format: Mixed response format. Two items utilize a 5-point Likert scale, and two items utilize a dichotomous (True/False) format.

Language Available: English (as presented in the source content)

Population Group: Youth and Adolescents

Age Group: Adolescence (Typically early to late teens, consistent with longitudinal youth studies)

Population Details: Primarily utilized within the Chicago Youth Development Study (CYDS), focusing on youth residing in high-risk, low-income urban neighborhoods in Chicago.

Test Methodology: The scale uses a standardized scoring methodology involving reverse coding and recoding of items before summation and averaging. The final score is derived by summing the recoded point values for all four items and dividing by the total number of items (four). A higher resulting mean score signifies a greater level of community involvement and comfort.

Keywords

Tolan, Gorman-Smith, Henry, CYDS, Neighborhood, Social Integration, Assessment Tool, Psychological Scale, Urban Studies.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source (Primary affiliation: Families and Communities Research Group, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Illinois at Chicago)

Correspondence Address: Not specified in source

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was developed in 2001 by Tolan, Gorman-Smith, and Henry. Information regarding specific usage fees or formal copyright permissions for non-academic use should be directed toward the original research group (Families and Communities Research Group, University of Illinois at Chicago) or the source compendium publisher (CDC).

The instrument is publicly available in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publication, “Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools.” The original PDF can be downloaded here: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/YV_Compendium.pdf (The instrument is located on page 326 of this compendium).

Reference’s

• Tolan PH, Gorman-Smith D, Henry DB. Chicago Youth Development Study Community and Neighborhood Measure: construction and reliability technical report. Families and Communities Research Group, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Illinois at Chicago, 2001.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools. Atlanta, GA: CDC, 2001. Available online: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/YV_Compendium.pdf

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Items of the Community Support—Chicago Youth Development Study

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The CS-CYDS consists of four items addressing community involvement:

1. I regularly stop and talk with people in my neighborhood.
2. I know most of the names of people on my block.
3. I am involved in neighborhood or block organizations that deal with neighborhood issues or problems.
4. I have done volunteer work in the last year to benefit my neighborhood.

Scoring Instructions:

Items 1 and 2 utilize a 5-point scale:

• Strongly agree=1
• Agree=2
• Neither=3
• Disagree=4
• Strongly disagree=5

Items 3 and 4 utilize a dichotomous scale:

• True=1
• False=2

Items 1 and 2 are Reverse coded. Items 3 and 4 are recoded as follows: 1 = 4; 2 = 2. Once all items have been recoded, point values for all items are summed and then divided by the total number of items (4) to achieve a mean score. A higher score indicates greater comfort and engagement in the neighborhood.