LAUSR

In this study, we argue that researchers should look to prevention efforts that capitalize on youth’s potential for positive development and law-abidingness in order to develop interventions that facilitate their successful transition to young adulthood. We draw from the positive youth development framework to assess the association between individual, family, and community assets and law-abidingness among a sample of adolescents living in Chicago, Illinois, neighborhoods. Data come from the first wave of the Program on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (N = 1,258). We focus on cohorts 12 and 15, since developmental assets have a significant impact on adolescents during these ages. After controlling for a range of individual and demographic variables, we find that greater levels of positive family communication were associated with greater odds of law-abidingness in our multilevel logistic regression models. The findings of this study are discussed in the context of a sociological perspective on positive youth development.