ABSTRACT
According to ecological perspectives, experiences cannot be understood apart from the specific contexts in which they occur. Two important ideas emerge from this theoretical perspective to inform the current study. First is the importance of individual perceptions of events. A second contribution that ecological perspectives make to the study of urban poverty is in the attention given to the complexity of contexts. Research on poor, urban adolescents has been dominated by research under the "social address" model. Greater understanding of economically disadvantaged adolescents cannot occur until a more in-depth investigation of socioeconomic status occurs. Garbarino, Kostelny and Dubrow compare life in urban cities to a war zone. They cite increasing levels of gang violence, lack of basic health care needs, inadequate food, inferior schooling, and social isolation as factors which make the context of urban poverty a stressful one.
