Aging,neighborhood attachment,and fear of crime: testing reciprocal effects

This study attempts to examine the reciprocal effects between fear of crime and neighborhood attachment because aging is a critical factor in both discussions of fear of crime and neighborhood attachment (friendship, neighboring, social cohesion and trust, informal social control, and participation in neighborhood watch program). Using data from the Project on Human Development across 343 Chicago neighborhoods, this study tests the impact of aging combined with five measures of neighborhood attachment on fear of crime. Our analyses confirm that all five interaction variables are insignificant in explaining fear of crime. In contrast, this study tests another argument that aging coupled with fear of crime (urban elderly's fear of crime) affects neighborhood attachment. The findings show that rising fear of crime among urban elderly residents helps increase their interactions with neighbors (neighboring) and their perceived level of social cohesion to and trust of neighbors. In short, this study supports a model where an interaction predictor of aging and fear of crime increases neighborhood attachment. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Verifying the operational definition of neighborhood for the psychosocial impact of structural deterioration

The physical decay of neighborhoods is associated with social conditions such as disease risk, poor mental health, and fear of crime. Researchers assessing neighborhood effects commonly operationalize neighborhoods via municipal boundaries such as U.S. Census Tracts, although more sophisticated analyses examine structures within a defined radius of respondents, typically .25‐mile. This study verifies the .25‐mile heuristic as a sound operational definition for neighborhood residential structures consequential to social conditions with measures of social contact with neighbors, perceptions of social capital, fear of neighborhood crime, and satisfaction with neighborhood quality of life. Deteriorating commercial structures cluster in smaller areas than deteriorating residential structures; however, the peak consequential radius appears to occur at 4 times the distance of residential structures. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Social capital,safety concerns,parenting, and early adolescents' antisocial behavior

This study explores the relations between neighborhood social capital (neighbor support and social climate), safety concerns (fear of crime and concern for one's child), parenting (solicitation and support), and adolescent antisocial behavior in a sample of 952 parents (742 mothers) and 588 boys and 559 girls from five middle schools (sixth through eighth grades) in a midsize Italian city. In structural equation models, social capital is strongly and inversely related to safety concerns and positively related to parental support and solicitation. In turn, safety concerns are also positively related to parental support and solicitation. Social capital and safety concerns have indirect effects on children's antisocial behavior through their effects on parenting. Implications are discussed for parenting and community‐based interventions to prevent or reduce youth antisocial behaviors. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

“There goes the fear”: feelings of safety at home and in the neighborhood: The role of personal,social, and service factors

Safety has been shown to be an important contributor to mental well‐being and is often identified as a key element of sustainable communities. Drawing on the fear of crime literature this study investigates the determinants of feelings of indoor and outdoor safety for people living in deprived areas, using both cross‐sectional and longitudinal samples from household surveys in 15 communities in Glasgow. Across the different models social cohesion, satisfaction with services, and perceived empowerment emerge as the most robust predictors of feeling very safe indoors and outside. Our findings suggest useful extensions to several theoretical models of the fear of crime: The vulnerability hypothesis should include social vulnerability more generally; environmental models should focus on local amenities and services as well as on disorder; and social–psychological models should consider not only informal social control but also resident empowerment in relation to housing and neighborhood issues.     

Fear of crime and perceived risk amonc older widowed women

Two theories are utilized to identify potential predictors of fear of crime. Respondents (TV = 300) were older urban, widowed females, a group recognized as particularly vulnerable to fear of crime. Measures consisted of respondents' characteristics, their neighborhood's characteristics, their perceptions about crime, and their victimization experiences. A logistic analysis provided only limited support for two theories on fear of crime. Further exploratory analyses revealed that the theories were more applicable to widows' perceptions of neighborhood crime rate than of crime fear itself. It is concluded that future research on older women should focus on perceived losses resulting from crime, which may lead to a better understanding of reactions (e.g., fear) to perceived risk.     

Community gardening,neighborhood meetings,and social capital

This study examined associations between participation in community gardening/beautification projects and neighborhood meetings with perceptions of social capital at both the individual and neighborhood levels. Data were analyzed from a cross‐sectional stratified random telephone survey conducted in Flint, Michigan (N=1916). Hierarchical linear and logistic regression analyses were used to study associations, controlling for individual and Census block group‐level confounders. At the individual level, household involvement in community gardening/beautification activities and in neighborhood meetings were associated with residents' perceptions of bonding social capital, linking social capital, and neighborhood norms and values. Household involvement in gardening/beautification and meetings had stronger associations with residents' perceptions of social capital than did neighborhood‐level involvement measures. Results suggest involvement in neighborhood meetings augment the individual and neighborhood‐wide perceptions of social capital associated with community gardening and beautification projects. Neighborhood community gardens' impact on neighborhood residents' perceptions of social capital can be enhanced by neighborhood‐wide meetings. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Current fear of crime,sense of community,and loneliness in italian adolescents: The role of autonomous mobility and play during childhood

A structural equation model was used to examine the role of autonomous mobility and play in public and semipublic places in childhood to predict adolescents' sense of community, fear of crime, and, through the mediation of these two last psychosocial factors, feelings of loneliness. Participants included 789 Italian students (469 females and 320 males; mean age 16.62, SD = 0.69). The instruments used were the Italian Sense of Community Scale, the Neighborhood Relations Scale, and the UCLA Loneliness Scale. A questionnaire was also administered to investigate the adolescents' current fear of crime and their autonomous mobility when they were children by asking them to recall their play habits and independent mobility at 8–10 years of age. The structural equation model proved satisfying: Higher autonomous mobility and higher use of public places for play in childhood predicted less intense fear of crime and a stronger sense of community in adolescence. Furthermore, a better relationship with community predicted less pervasive feelings of loneliness. The simultaneous multigroup analysis showed that the final model was comparable for both girls and boys with only one difference. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

In the eye of the beholder: mothers' perceptions of poor neighborhoods as places to raise children

This study explores how mothers facing similar neighborhood conditions evaluate their neighborhoods as places to raise children. The authors relied upon a triangulation of methods, using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, with a sample of 91 low‐income mothers. Content analysis of qualitative interviews revealed that mothers often hold divergent views about the quality of the same or similar neighborhoods. Mothers' overall neighborhood perceptions were influenced by several specific indicators, including social interaction, collective efficacy, fear of crime, personal victimization, and neighborhood incivilities. Moreover, mothers' subjective neighborhood perceptions were related to their parenting strategies. This study thus underscores the importance of not solely relying on “objective” neighborhood criteria such as census data, but of also attending to residents' subjective perceptions of their own neighborhoods. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Neighborhood sexual violence moderates women's perceived safety in urban neighborhoods

Perceptions of neighborhood safety are positively associated with perceptions of neighborhood violence. However, research has yet to examine whether this relationship is moderated by specific types of violence, such as sexual violence, that are more salient for women. Using street‐intercept interviews with 343 adults in 9 neighborhoods of a U.S. city with high rates of poverty, unemployment, and crime, we examine the relationship of perceived neighborhood violence to perceived safety in the context of gender while controlling for neighborhood assets that moderate perceptions of neighborhood safety and violence. We hypothesized that gender would moderate the relationship between perceived neighborhood violence and safety, and that women's perceptions of neighborhood safety would be significantly influenced by neighborhood sexual violence, but not other types of violence. Although women and men in these high crime, urban neighborhoods did not differ in their perceptions of neighborhood safety or violence, perceived sexual violence did significantly moderate safety by gender; women's perceptions of neighborhood sexual violence predicted perceived safety in their neighborhood. Importantly, gender did not moderate perceived safety for other types of violence. These results illustrate the importance of taking gender and perceived sexual violence into account to understand neighborhood safety in adults, particularly women.     

Factorial structure of the Perceived Neighborhood Scale (PNS): A test of longitudinal invariance

This article analyzes the invariance of the factor structure of the Perceived Neighborhood Scale (PNS)—a measure of neighborhood perceptions for parents of young children—across two waves of data. Scale items were theoretically derived to represent four dimensions of neighborhood context: social embeddedness, sense of community, satisfaction with neighborhood, and fear of crime. The longitudinal invariance of the factor structure of the scale was confirmed by testing the goodness‐of‐fit of four nested models. Results from longitudinal confirmatory factor analytic models (a) provide support for the hypothesized scale structure, (b) demonstrate convergent validity, and (c) demonstrate nonmetric and strict metric invariance. In addition, correlation analyses examining the associations between neighborhood characteristics and scale scores indicated external validity. Both sense of community and satisfaction with neighborhood were significantly associated with parental sense of efficacy. Findings are discussed in light of the implications for longitudinal research with children and the effects of neighborhood characteristics on parenting and the development of preschool children. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

THE ROLE OF NEIGHBORHOOD COLLECTIVE EFFICACY AND FEAR OF CRIME IN SOCIALIZATION OF COPING WITH VIOLENCE IN LOW‐INCOME COMMUNITIES

The influences of public housing, caregiver fear of crime, and collective efficacy on messages caregivers relay to their offspring regarding coping with community and peer violence were examined using a 3‐wave prospective design. Caregivers (N = 358; 92% African American/Black) living in moderate to high violence areas of a midsized southern city completed face‐to‐face interviews. Coping suggestions were coded at Wave 3 from audiotaped responses to a vignette measure depicting five neighborhood‐based and five school‐based situations involving violence or aggression. Path models indicated that residing in public or Section 8 housing was associated with greater fear of crime and lower collective efficacy. Fear of crime was associated with more suggestions to use active coping strategies for neighborhood‐based situations involving violence; collective efficacy was associated with messages to use less aggression for school‐based situations. These findings extend our understanding of caregiver socialization of coping processes in poor and underresourced neighborhoods.     

Crime-Related fears and demographic diversity in los angeles county after the 1992 civil disturbances

The purpose of this research was to assess demographic differences in exposure to traumatic events and fear of crime. This is part of a larger project that assessed the impact of the 1992 Los Angeles civil disturbances on psychological functioning. Random digit dialing methods were used to obtain an adult household probability sample (age 18 or older) representative of the targeted region (Los Angeles County). A total of 1200 individuals completed a 40-minute comprehensive telephone interview. Four hundred interviews were sampled from South Central (the area most heavily affected by the rioting), and 800 were sampled from the remainder of L.A. County. A series of chi-square analyses indicated that there were differences in (a) prevalence of lifetime and past year victimization, (b) perception of neighborhood problems, (c) exposure to the disturbances, and (d) fear of crime as a function of demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, race, ethnicity, community). A hierarchical multiple regression was conducted using demographic variables, victimization, and exposure to the disturbances to predict fear of crime. Results indicated that demographic variables were significantly predictive of crime fear, but that report of neighborhood problems was the strongest predictor. Additionally, exposure to the disturbances remained a significant predictor of crime fear after controlling for the effects of victimization, demographics, and neighborhood problems. Results suggest that while diverse community, race, ethnicity, and gender variables contribute to differences in crime fear, neighborhood problems may be the most important predictor across all groups of subjects. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

How long does victimization foster fear of crime? A longitudinal study

We studied the relationship between victimization and fear of crime longitudinally, analyzing data from the Observatory of the North‐West (Italian national sample, N=1,701, two waves: January 2006 and January 2007). We modeled fear of crime at T₂ using as independent variables: (a) the main sociodemographic variables and fear of crime, as assessed at T₁; (b) direct victimization; and (c) indirect victimization. Recent direct victimization was the most effective victimization predictor of both concrete and abstract fears, followed by multiple or repeat direct victimization. On the other hand, direct victimization occurring in the 12 months before the first wave did not influence fear. Recent indirect victimization and, above all, multiple or repeat indirect victimization influenced concrete, but not abstract, fear of crime, while direct victimization occurring in the 12 months before the first wave did not foster fear. We discuss the limits of this work and possible further directions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Residential mobility and exposure to neighborhood crime: risks for young children's aggression

This three‐year longitudinal study investigated associations between residential mobility, neighborhood crime, and aggression during middle childhood. Participants were 460 children (M age = 6.9 years, SD = 1.1) residing in a disadvantaged city in the Northeastern United States. Residential mobility was determined from school records, teachers provided ratings of aggression, and city police reports of call complaints provided information on neighborhood crime. Neighborhoods were classified as average or high crime. Results showed that mobility and neighborhood crime were significantly (p<.05) related to boys' (but not girls') aggression. Boys' aggression was relatively high if they: (1) moved; (2) had stable residence in a high‐crime neighborhood; and (3) both moved and lived in high crime. Net of demographic characteristics and baseline adjustment, boys who moved from an average to high‐crime neighborhood showed particularly high aggression. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Perceived community disorder moderates the relation between victimization and fear of crime

In a representative sample of the Italian population (N=2,002), surveyed in January 2008, we studied the direct and interactive effects exerted on fear of crime by direct and indirect victimization, on the one hand, and perceived level of disorder of participants' community, on the other hand. Indirect victimization fostered fear of crime among participants reporting high levels of social disorder in their community. However, direct and indirect victimization did not influence fear of crime among participants reporting not living in a disordered community. Implications and limitations of this work and possible further research directions are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS,SOCIAL SUPPORT,AND INTERNALIZING SYMPTOMS AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN YOUTH

The relations among chronic environmental stressors, social support, and anxiety and depressive symptoms among urban, African American youth are unclear. In this study, we test theoretical models of support and examine the specific relations between community violence exposure and neighborhood disadvantage and three types of anxiety symptoms as well as depressive symptoms. Participants included 188 African American youth in Grades 5 through 8 from 2 low‐income urban schools. Results suggest victimization and neighborhood disadvantage were most significantly associated with symptoms, and in the context of these stressors, parent support was associated with fewer fear and concentration and depressive symptoms. Parent and friend support buffered the effects of stressors on depressive symptoms. These findings contribute to the literature in terms of testing specific stressor‐psychopathology relations and theory‐based social support models with urban, at‐risk youth. Implications for intervention are discussed.     

THE ASSOCIATION OF MULTIPLE NEIGHBORHOOD PERCEPTIONS WITH DEPRESSION AMONG A HIGHLY IMPOVERISHED URBAN SAMPLE

Studies show a link between neighborhoods and depression. Multiple social processes may contribute to this relationship. This study examines multiple neighborhood social factors simultaneously and how each may contribute to depression. 717 individuals were recruited from high‐drug‐use areas in Baltimore, Maryland to be interviewed. Participants reported perceptions of their neighborhood and depressive symptoms. The influence of four neighborhood factors (social disorder, institutional control, individual control, and future risk) on presence of depression was assessed using logistic regression. Higher levels of social disorder (OR:1.36) and perceived future risk of crime (OR:1.41) were associated with greater odds of depression. These relationships remained even when accounting for other neighborhood and individual factors. These results suggest perceived social disorder and future risk of being a victim of crime may be particularly salient in exacerbating depressive symptoms. This research may be beneficial for individual and community‐based interventions for prevention and treatment of depression.     

What factors predict women's disclosure of sexual assault to mental health professionals?

Although many sexual assault survivors seek support from mental health sources for adverse psychological symptoms due to sexual assault, many do not. A diverse sample of adult sexual assault survivors was surveyed about their sexual assault experiences, social reactions received when disclosing assault, attributions of blame, coping strategies, and psychological symptomatology. Statistical analyses were run to identify demographic, assault, and postassault factors differentiating women who disclosed from those who did not disclose sexual assault to mental health sources. Both demographic (race, sexual orientation, and age) and postassault factors (posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] symptom severity, number of informal support sources told, receipt of tangible aid/information support) significantly predicted assault disclosure. Implications of the results are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 35: 619–638, 2007.     

TALKING TO YOUNG PEOPLE ABOUT SEX IN SOUTH AFRICA: NEIGHBORHOOD AND SOCIAL INFLUENCES

Our study seeks to untangle systemic influences on specific family dynamics understudied in a non‐Western context. Specifically, we examine the associations between caregivers’ perceptions of neighborhood cohesion, neighborhood safety, and social support, and one aspect of parenting relevant to the South African community from which data were drawn, caregiver–youth communication about sex. Multivariate regression models demonstrate interactive relationships among our variables of interest (p ≤ .05). For caregiver–youth dyads (N = 99), living in a neighborhood caregivers perceived to be relatively cohesive or safe was associated with differential relationships (i.e., conditional effects; p ≤ .07) between caregiver social support and youth report of communication about sex. Our findings indicate that neighborhood and social‐level influences on parenting are not universal. Moreover, cross‐cultural adaptations of family‐based behavioral interventions to prevent HIV should consider the role of caregiver social support within diverse neighborhood contexts.     

Community participation in a low-income neighborhood: The salience of sociodemographic characteristics,perceptions and experience of violence,and neighborhood attachment

While community participation may serve as a vehicle to improve health and socioeconomic outcomes for residents in poor communities, little research exists on the individual factors that influence community participation, particularly in contexts where violence is exceptionally high. This study examined the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics, perceptions, and experiences of violence, neighborhood attachment, and community participation in a low-income, under-resourced neighborhood in Johannesburg South Africa. The study used baseline data from 300 randomly selected households and multiple linear regression to assess the relationship between individual factors and community participation. The results suggest a high level of community participation, with religious organizational membership the most common. Being female, employed, and fear of violent crime were positively associated with community participation. Future research should include mixed methods and transdisciplinary research approaches for building our understandings of social justice and transformation-oriented community participation.