This model was used to investigate cultural factors which influenced the development of a good relationship between neighbors from different ethnic groups in a multi-ethnic housing project in a Northeastern city. Three hundred Chinese, black, white, and hispanic families were studied. The results of the study suggested that the cultural similarity between an ethnic group and its neighbors produced the type of boundaries between the ethnic groups. The study also suggested that residents direct their actions and social relationships toward preserving security in an environment of crime and uncertainty. One basis for judgements about safe and dangerous persons was their cultural similarity or difference. The cultural dimension of an ethnic identity (the similarity between ideas about behavior, explanations of the world, and the meanings of social acts), influenced patterns of social interaction, and shaped the structure of ethnic groups and boundaries. (Author/JP)