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Assault injury rates, social capital, and fear of neighborhood crime
Author(s) -
Kruger Daniel J.,
Hutchison Peter,
Monroe Matthew G.,
Reischl Thomas,
MorrelSamuels Susan
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.20160
Subject(s) - fear of crime , context (archaeology) , social capital , zip code , respondent , poison control , psychology , injury prevention , criminology , social psychology , demography , demographic economics , medicine , geography , medical emergency , sociology , political science , economics , social science , archaeology , law
This study develops an explanatory framework for fear of neighborhood crime based on respondents' social context and local rates of assault injuries. Rates of assault injuries within zip codes are based on hospital discharge records. We find that only four variables have a significant unique contribution to fear of crime: respondent's sex, perceptions of neighborhood social capital, and the rates of struck by/against assault injuries for the 10–24 and 50+ age groups. We also find that the perception of neighborhood social capital moderates the impact of assault injury rates on fear of crime; those who perceive a high level of neighborhood social capital exhibit less sensitivity to assault injury rates. We include a map of assault injury rates and fear of crime by ZIP Code and describe the community context related to our results. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 35: 483–498, 2007.