Subsidized Housing, Public Housing, and Adolescent Violence and Substance Use

Authors

Tamara Leech, Montclair State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Winter 12-2012

Journal / Book Title

Youth & Society

Abstract

This study examines the separate relationships of public housing residents and subsidized housing residence to adolescent health risk behavior. Data included 2,530 adolescents aged 14 to 19 who were children of the National the Longitudinal Study of Youth. The author uses stratified propensity methods to compare the behaviors of each group—subsidized housing residents and public housing residents—to a matched control group of teens receiving no housing assistance. The results reveal no significant relationship between public housing residence and violence, heavy alcohol/marijuana use, or other drug use. However, subsidized housing residents have significantly lower rates of violence and hard drug use, and marginally lower rates of heavy marijuana/alcohol use. The results indicate that the consistent, positive effect of vouchers in the current literature is not due to a lower standard among the typical comparison group: public housing. Future studies should focus on conceptualizing and analyzing the protective effect of vouchers beyond comparisons to public housing environments.

DOI

10.1177/0044118X10388821

MSU Digital Commons Citation

Leech, Tamara, "Subsidized Housing, Public Housing, and Adolescent Violence and Substance Use" (2012). Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works. 171.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/public-health-facpubs/171

Published Citation

Leech, Tamara GJ. "Subsidized housing, public housing, and adolescent violence and substance use." Youth & Society 44, no. 2 (2012): 217-235.