Pre-Teens in High-Crime Neighborhoods Develop "Bunker Mentality" - Study

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 12, 2010 7:30PM

The University of Chicago recently conducted a study that showed pre-teen adolescents in crime-ridden neighborhoods don't make fast friends. Instead, like warlords in training, they have a "bunker mentality" regarding making friends, base their friendships on strategic relationships based upon the violence in their neighborhoods - who has one's back; who won't snitch.

The disturbing findings were the result of a one year pilot study where researchers tracked students at two schools: one with a stable student body; the other with frequent turnover, with the original intent of comparing student body turnover among childhood friendships. The researchers instead found that the students they studied in each school conducted "background checks" to determine who was trustworthy, routinely tested their peers for their trustworthiness. cross-checked their dependability with classmates and kept tabs on them for months and years.

The individual tidbits regarding the study are especially telling. One girl told the researchers she invited a friend to a party, then staged a fight to see if the classmate would intervene. Another told a group of people she was watching a bit of fake gossip, then waited to see if the gossip spread, as a test of their trustworthiness.

It sounds at first as though this is just another case of "mean girls" syndrome. But how does this differ from say, the same things that happen at a middle school on the North Shore? Well, a child of privilege in Winnetka isn't likely to lose her life on the streets if she's found to be a snitch. Living in, say, Englewood or Austin, these are the kinds of tests that determine life or death.