This study explored the effects of
structural and experiential neighborhood factors and developmental stage on antisocial behavior,
among a sample of poor urban adolescents in New York City. Conceptually and empirically
distinct profiles of neighborhood experience were derived from the data, based on measures of
perceived neighborhood cohesion, poverty-related hassles, and involvement in neighborhood
organizations and activities. Both the profiles of neighborhood experience and a measure of
census-tract-level neighborhood hazard (poverty and violence) showed relationships to antisocial
behavior. Contrary to expectation, higher levels of antisocial behavior were reported among
adolescents residing in moderate-structural-risk neighborhoods than those in high-structural-risk
neighborhoods. This effect held only for teens in middle (not early) adolescence and was stronger
for teens perceiving their neighborhoods as hassling than for those who did not. Implications for
future research and preventive intervention are discussed.