Social capital in an impoverished minority neighborhood: emergence and effects on children's mental health.

Problem: This study aims to describe and analyze neighborhood effects on children's mental health, focusing on the emergence and effects of Social Capital or informal social control.

Method: Focus groups of Hispanic and African American families raising children in a low-income, minority neighborhood.

Findings: Parents' alienation from and distrust of public sources of formal social control, such as policemen, prevented the emergence of positive informal social control.

Conclusion: Psychiatric nurses and nurse practitioners must utilize public health and individual therapeutic approaches to prevent and treat children's mental health problems in disorganized, violent neighborhoods.