Does participating in neighborhood-focused activism confer different benefits than volunteering? The engagement of community members in neighborhood civic life has been identified as an important component of safe and healthy communities. Research on community engagement has encompassed voluntary associations, volunteering, as well as participation in neighborhood activism. A diverse set of research suggests that there are psychological and social benefits to community engagement, but also suggests that there are differences between forms of participation. In order to understand these differences, I examine the relationship of both volunteerism and neighborhood activism to psychosocial outcomes using survey data from a neighborhood-based sample of Chicago residents (n=3105). Findings suggest that activism is different—activists have higher neighborhood and personal mastery than those who only volunteer. Participation in neighborhood activism is also associated with an increased likelihood of contact with local officials and social ties in the neighborhood.

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Ⅲ Research investigating neighborhood effects on children and families has been largely deficit and individual-focusedThis article is dedicated to the memory of Carol T. Mowbray. Four months after being diagnosed with advanced gall bladder cancer, Carol died on August 23, 2005, at the much too young age of 57. Carol was the organizing force in bringing the authors on this article together to explore the potential applications of spatial and multilevel methods to studying complex community-level social processes. Her unwavering strengths perspective, which she not just believed but lived, toward research, practice, colleagues, and students, is reflected in the theoretical orientation of this article. The "GIS Group" she started has carried on after her death and is currently engaged in empirical analyses inspired by this first conceptual article. In so many ways, this article is an example of the kind of contributions Carol made to the fields of psychology and social work during the course of her career. Carol was most impressive at bringing many people to the table and finding the strengths and potential contributions of each. Carol has been a deeply valued mentor to many developing researchers over the years. She is profoundly missed by the assistant professors and doctoral students here at the University of Michigan, who were currently being mentored by her, some of whom are authors of this article.

Neighborhood stressors are associated with depressive symptoms and are more likely to be experienced in poor, non-White neighborhoods. Neighborhood stress process theory suggests that neighborhood stressor affect mental health through personal coping resources, such as mastery. Mastery is thought to be both a pathway and a buffer of the ill effects of neighborhood stressors. This research examines the neighborhood stress process with a focus on racial and ethnic differences in the relationship between neighborhood stressors, mastery, and depressive symptoms in a multi-ethnic sample of Chicago residents. Findings suggest race-specific effects on depressive symptoms. Mastery is found to be a pathway from neighborhood stressors to depressive symptoms but not a buffer against neighborhood stressors. Mastery is most beneficial to Whites and those living in low stress neighborhoods.