Understanding the Early Years - Community Impacts on Child Development - August 1999

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Appendix A: Community Measures

Table A.1. Perception of Personal Involvement in Neighbourhood

Variable	Questions Used to Measure Variable	Source
Informal Neighbouring	number of adults known in neighbourhood frequency of conversation with neighbours frequency of the exchange of favours	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Local Personal Ties	number of adults known in neighbourhood proportion of friends in neighbourhood proportion of relatives in neighbourhood	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Organisational Involvement	number of organisations in neighbourhood adult family members belong to residents ever organised to solve problems have been asked to local organisation to participate	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Neighbourhood Attachment	plans to stay in neighbourhood (length of time) feels "really belongs" in neighbourhood if could/unlikely to move out	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Network Size and Breadth	number of people considers friends number of close friends proportion of friends outside of neighbourhood	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
School Attachment -Commitment (13 variables)	likes school cares what teachers think feels satisfied with school program is not bored at school	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Involvement in or Perception of Social activities / Organisations in Community	frequency of involvement in groups specified name of charitable, professional association, political organisation, cultural, education or hobby organisation, sports organisation, religious affiliation group, neighbourhood, civic community group or school group type of involvement they have with any group (pay membership dues, attend meetings, participate in meetings, other) number of associations or organisations in which person is a member or participant their awareness of community programs, organisations, and people (asked to identify if they have heard of a given group, if so, whether or not they got help from this group, and the type of help they received) questions pertaining to educational, cultural, and recreational activities (how time was spent, whether or not there was engagement in given activities such as going to museums, listening to music, attending concerts or the theatre, recreation sports, however no link to location (community or neighbourhood)	Survey of Volunteering Calgary Youth Violence Survey Boston Survey - Neighbourhood Interview General Social Survey, Cycle 10, Family Section F
Respondent's Perception of Own Neighbourhood	Rating of neighbourhood as a place to live; best and worst things about neighbourhood; what could be changed to make it easier to raise children. What is liked/disliked most about living in this neighbourhood. Reasons why respondent might choose to move out of the neighbourhood (escape crime, drugs, better schools, affordable housing, safety, better friends for children, escape racial tension, closer proximity to stores or other facilities). Awareness or perception of social problems in the neighbourhood (people drinking in public, drugs, visible qualities of neighbourhood. How they feel toward their neighbourhood as a place to live, to bring up children; how their present neighbourhood compares to others in the city as well as to that where they grew up; additional questions regarding their own experiences growing up; perception of  number of adults and children in neighbourhood; number of strangers. Respondents are asked to compare their own neighbourhood to others in the city, in terms of safety (danger), and whether they believe their neighbourhood has changed for the better, worse, or stayed the same in the past couple of years.	Chicago Community Survey Questionnaire - 1994; Boston Survey - Neighborhood Interview Chicago Community Survey Questionnaire - 1994; Boston Survey - Neighborhood Interview; Simcha- Fagan Questionnaire Boston Survey - Neighborhood Interview Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Defining One's Neighbourhood	Respondent defines the boundaries of their neighbourhood (name, number of blocks perceived to be included, major streets, parks, stores, and other landmarks thought to be boundaries of neighbourhood). Name of other neighbourhood they would choose to move to (identified by name or street boundaries). If had to move, how much would respondent miss current neighbourhood Likelihood of choosing to move from current neighbourhood within next 5 years. Use of a map for identification of neighbourhood; whether or not they believe this is a common perception. How long they anticipate living in this neighbourhood; whether they consider it a "home' or merely a "place where they live.'	Chicago Community Survey Questionnaire - 1994; Calgary Youth Violence Survey; Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire Boston Survey - Neighborhood Interview
Residential Tenure / Mobility	number of times person has moved in past 10 years distance away from previous residence reasons for last move (17 various reasons, including; home purchase, larger home, better neighbourhood or change in neighbourhood, financial reasons) ownership of present dwelling by member of household tenure in present household type of dwelling now residing in	General Social Survey, Cycle 10, Family Section R/L; Calgary Youth Violence Survey
Informal Structure of Personal Ties	Average Residential Stability; Informal Neighbouring and Local Personal Ties (see above)	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire

Table A.2. Perception of Neighbourhood Cohesion/Resources

Variable	Questions Used to Measure Variable	Source
Social Cohesion	Neighbours get together to deal with problems in community. Neighbourhood is close-knit. No one in neighbourhood cares much about what happens to you. If needed to borrow $30 in an emergency, could you turn to a neighbour. If away, know can turn to neighbours to watch out for trouble around my place. How would you describe the other people who live around here as neighbours? Whether or not respondent considers themselves as being part of a particular area or neighbourhood in the community. In past year, have neighbours done anything that has upset or irritated you? (if yes, the frequency that this has occurred) Of the ten families that live the closest to you, how many do you know by name? Do most of the people who live in this area come from the same social or cultural background that you do?	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire Chicago Community Survey Questionnaire - 1994; Australian Living Standards Survey
Informal Social Control	Questions that address the likelihood that residents would respond collectively to various issues (incidents of graffiti, fight the closure of a fire station).	Quality of Life Survey - York University
Civic Neighbourhood	PMK feels the neighbourhood is an excellent or good place to bring up children and strongly agrees or agrees with each of the following statements: It is safe to walk alone in this neighbourhood after dark; It is safe for children to play outside during the day; If there is a problem around here, the neighbours get together to deal with it; There are adults in the neighbourhood that children can look up to; People around here are willing to help their neighbours; You can count on adults in this neighbourhood to watch out that children are safe and don't get in trouble; and When I'm away from home, I know that my neighbours will keep their eyes open for possible trouble.	See: Offord et al. (1998). Data from the NLSCY.
Availability of Resources	entertainment, cultural facilities and recreational and sports opportunities, shopping facilities in the broader community (city)a access to public parks, playing field with play equipment for young children; the visibility of police services questions that pertain to the availability of special programs and services directed at various age groups (including young children and teenagers); as well as the existence of a neighbourhood newspaper, bulletin, or newsletter	Quality of Life Survey - York University Australian Living Standards Survey Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Good Parks and Play Grounds	The PMK (person most knowledgeable) strongly agrees with the statement "There are good parks, playgrounds, and play spaces in this neighbourhood."	See: Offord et al. (1998). Data from the NLSCY.
Quality of Neighbourhood Parks / Playgrounds, Buildings, and Physical Environment	The equipment and buildings in the park or playground closest to you are well kept. The park or playground closest to you is safe during the day. The park or playground closest to you is safe at night. Children have nowhere but in street to play. condition of streets and roads, houses and buildings number of parks and playgroundsquality of schools that children in area attend amount of noise and air pollution (and sources)	Chicago Community Survey Questionnaire - 1994 Quality of Life Survey - York University; Australian Living Standards Survey

Table A.3. Perception of Neighbourhood Problems (Safety/Crime)

Variable	Questions Used To Measure Variable	Source
Neighbourhood Anomie	People around here will take advantage of others. I do not know who I can really count on people around here don't care about others.	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Social Disorder	presence of litter or trash on streets presence of drug addicts in neighbourhood presence of abandoned houses or stores	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Conflict Subculture	presence of fights with weapons in neighbourhood presence of youth gang conflicts people badly hurt in a quarrel	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Illegal Economy
	People in the neighbourhood make part/all of their income from: a regular 9 to 5 job selling stolen goods selling drugs	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Association with Delinquent Peers (8 variables)
	Number of friends who have/ been: suspended from school picked up by police picked up by police done things which could have gotten them into trouble with police drink beer or wine; hard liquor; use marijuana; use cocaine; use hard drugs	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Self-Reported Delinquency (33 variables)	broken windows of a school building taken money that does not belong to you used a knife or other weapon in a fight sold illegal drugs such as heroine, marijuana, LSD, or cocaine	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Severe Self- Reported Delinquency	Fifteen self-reported items pertaining to Index crime categories were selected, and included offenses legally classified under assault, robbery, burglary, grand larceny, vehicle larceny, and arson.	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire
Neighbourhood Safety	worry about personal safety while waiting for public transportation after dark, while walking alone to car in a parking garage, or when alone in home in the evening or at night (frequency of such, and whether it would increase if they felt safer) how often person carries something to defend self or alert others (and what type(s) of object is/are carried); if they have ever taken a self- defense course for own personal safety when alone in different situations/scenario, steps taken to increase sense of personal safety. perceived safety walking alone in community at night; when alone in home at night; perceived safety waiting for or using public transportation alone after dark fear threat of some form of bodily injury or physical assault with or without a weapon, including that by a group or gang fear someone will expose themselves to you fear sexual assault (varying degrees) fear of intentional damage to personal property or personal theft, including by force or threat of force	Violence Against Women Survey (Statistics Canada) Calgary Youth Violence Survey
Neighbourhood Crime	perception of youth crime in own community as compared to others in city perceived frequency over past 5 years involvement in various criminal/illicit activities whether or not their school has a regular resource/police officer who visits school, and personal contact with this officer contact with police other than that through their school, and for what reason perception of police, and their competence in doing their job questions pertaining to safety from crime questions pertaining to crime victimization	Calgary Youth Violence Survey;Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire Calgary Youth Violence Survey Quality of Life Survey - York University Australian Living Standards Survey
Interviewer's Perception of Neighbourhood	questions regarding visibility of garbage etc., lighting, people seen, how interviewer felt with respect to own level of comfort/safety, land use in neighbourhood	Chicago Community Survey Questionnaire - 1994
Deviant-Criminal Subculture	(low) Neighbourhood Attachment; (low) Network Size and Breadth; Anomie; Social Disorder; Conflict Subculture; and Illegal Economy (see above).	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire

Table A.4. Neighbourhood Social and Economic Characteristics

Variable	Questions Used to Measure Variable	Source
Society
Community Organisational Participation	organisational Involvement. applicants referred by volunteer center charitable contributions volunteer rate volunteer rate for community activities youth volunteer rate - 1 hr/week youth involvement in community service	Simcha-Fagan Questionnaire; Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Neighbourhood Disadvantage	percent of total neighbourhood income coming from government transfer payments; percent of neighbourhood population aged 15 years and over without a secondary school certificate; percent of neighbourhood population aged 15 years and over with a university degree or certificate; mean household income in 1000's of dollars; and percent unemployed aged 15+	NLSCY (See: Boyle & Lipman, 1998).
Index of Neighbourhood Quality	percentage in the neighbourhood who hold professional or managerial jobs	See: Crane, 1991. Data from the PUMS (Public Use Microdata Samples) file of the 1970 Census.
Social Isolation	neighbourhoods where at least 40% of the people who were not elderly were poor and no more than 10% of its families had incomes above $30,000	See: Brooks-Gunn et al. (1993), PSID data (Panel Study of Income Dynamics)
Impoverishment	factor scores for poverty rate, unemployment rate, vacant housing, population loss, female- head-ship, and percentage black	See: Coulton et al. (1995). Census and administrative agency data for Cleveland, Ohio.
Male Joblessness	percent of males aged 16-64 not in labour force; percent of males 16-64 who worked fewer than 26 weeks	See: Duncan & Aber, 1997. Data from PSID.
Neighbourhood SES	the proportion 25 years and older with 16 years or more education median family income proportion of the population with poverty level income	See: Brewster et al. (1993) Data from Cycle III of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG-III)
Neighbourhood Low/High SES	percent of families with children headed by females; percent of non-Latino individuals who are black; percent of non-Latino individuals who are white; percent of non elderly individuals who are poor; percent of families with children living as subfamilies; ratio of children to families with children; ratio of 2- parent families to children percent of individuals aged 25+ with 13+ years of schooling; percent of workers in executive/professional occupations	See: Duncan & Aber, 1997. Data from PSID.
Family Concentration	ratio of persons to occupied units; percent of all individuals aged 0- 7; percent of all individuals aged 65+	See: Duncan & Aber, 1997. Data from PSID.
Social Disintegration	proportion of the female population (15 years and older) separated or divorced proportion of occupied housing units moved into [in a 5 year period] proportion of civilian labour force currently unemployed	See: Brewster et al. (1993). Data from Cycle III of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG-III)
Instability	factor scores for the proportion who have moved within past 5 years, the proportion of households who have lived in their current home for less than 10 years, and the percent of households that have lived in their current home less than 1 year	See: Coulton et al. (1995). Census and administrative agency data for Cleveland, Ohio.
Social Integration	includes measures of geographic mobility, unemployment rates, and marital instability	See: Brewster et al. (1993).
Services	city human services expenditures per capita attendance at community center library circulation rates	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Pregnancy/Birth	young female pregnancy rate - age 14-17 births to mothers under age 18 births to mothers without 12 years of education births to unwed mothers births to females under 18 per 1,000 live births substance-exposed new borns per 1,000 live births teenage pregnancy rate low-birth weight infants	Hart Environmental Data  Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Health	perceived quality of life	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Diversity	employment discrimination complaints racism perception discrimination perception voiced disability accessible public buildings discrimination complaints filed in Minnesota quality of life for people with long-term limitations percent of foreign-born individuals; Index of ethnic diversity	Hart Environmental  Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto) See:Duncan & Aber,1997. Data from PSID
Culture	percent of listed heritage sites 'designated' public library use; Library books borrowed per juvenile city financial support of arts organisations per capita Museum of Science & History attendance public library book circulation per capita public library materials per capita symphony attendance per 1,000 population zoo attendance per 1,000 population amount and number of public grants for arts commercial and industrial projects with public art component number of art courses available at public schools number of art/performances in public parks number of children in Citywide Arts Program number of historic, protected structures number of people served by museums number/location of public art sites in city opportunities to participate in art (theater, etc) total seating for public visual/performing arts number of books and subscriptions in public and college libraries circulation rate for library system per capita library checkouts annually public participation in the arts	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Connectedness (See Measure for Social Cohesion)	people can rely on others in community for help dispute resolution center cases handled neighbourliness gardening activity	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Children	children in foster care per 1,000 children children involved in divorce per 1,000 children childcare arrangement satisfaction divorces involving children runaways per 1,000 children students who move more than once/year factor scores for the ratio of children to adults, the ratio of males to females, and the percentage of the population who are elderly	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto) See: Coulton et al. (1995). Census and administrative agency data for Cleveland, Ohio
Abuse	child abuse/neglect cases confirmed/1,000 children child abuse/neglect abuse/neglect of children number of children receiving protective services for abuse/neglect percent of women turned away from battered women shelters child abuse reported to CAS, CCAS, and JFCS child abuse reported to the police	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Recreation
Land Use	total length of hiking trails public park acreage per 1,000 population public access sites on lakes and rivers recreational trail miles	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Accessibility	event/days of bookings at city facilities city parks/rec. expenditures per capita number of residents per facility funding amounts and sources for recreation facilities number of people using facilities each month park and facility space per capita by district variety of available recreational and sporting options percent of population whose activity is limited by disabilities	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Public Safety
Traffic	number of pedestrian or bicycle accidents involving injury per year DUI arrests per 10,000 population vehicle traffic accidents per 1,000 percent traffic injuries to cyclists/ pedestrians	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Violence	murders per 10,000 population violent crimes reported per 100,000 violent/injury related death rate per 100,000 homicide rate per 100,000 number of forcible rapes reported calls to Assaulted Women's Helpline calls to Toronto Rape Crisis Centre gay/lesbian bashings reported to 519 Church St homicides and attempts non-sexual assaults number of violent crimes on public transit violent crime rate	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Services	fire call response time priority one police call response time rescue call response time number of sworn police officers per 1,000 people number of residents and city staff who received disaster training	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Juvenile Crime	apprehensions of children	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Drugs	number of presentations of drug prevention program	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Domestic Violence	domestic assault reported per 100,000 population domestic violence reported to police	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Accidents	deaths from all accidents per 100,000 population accidental deaths per 100,000 population motor vehicle accidents per 1,000 population deaths by motor vehicle per 100,000 by age groupings number of accidents per intersection per million vehicles per year	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Crime	reported incidents of violence, burglary, rape and indecent assault crime index per 10,000 incidence of crime in public school/1,000 students juvenile cases referred to court - ages 12-17rapes reported per 10,000 population crimes per 100,000 population people feeling safe walking alone at night people reporting being victims of crime number of reported crimes per 100,000 pop. number of neighbourhood watch groups crimes against people juvenile crime youth crimes as ratio of ethnic population percentage who decreased park use due to fear percentage of people who feel safe walking alone after dark property crimes crime victims as percent of population people who feel safe in communities	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Housing
Ownership	home ownership rate	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Cost	affordability of single family home low-income renters paying > 30% of income on rent percent of renters paying more than 30% of income for housing housing affordability ratio - house prices housing affordability ratio - rent prices owners who cannot afford to live in the city renters who cannot afford to live in the city	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Condition	low-income housing w/severe physical problem percent of dwellings in need of major repair	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)
Availability	annual applicants for affordable housing new housing starts number of people using homeless shelters distribution of affordable housing throughout city number of beds in shelters for homeless number of homeless people number of rehabilitated affordable housing units number of transitional housing units available yearly percentage increase in number of dwelling units waiting time for subsidized housing	Hart Environmental Data - Indicators of Sustainability (Toronto)

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