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The Effect of Neighborhood Recorded Crime on Fear: Does Neighborhood Social Context Matter?
Author(s) -
Pearson Amber L.,
Breetzke Gregory,
Ivory Vivienne
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/s10464-015-9741-z
Subject(s) - fear of crime , context (archaeology) , psychology , health psychology , feeling , criminology , multilevel model , mental health , public health , poison control , social environment , social psychology , environmental health , geography , sociology , psychiatry , medicine , social science , nursing , archaeology , machine learning , computer science
A number of individual and neighborhood‐level factors may influence the relationship between recorded crime in one’s neighborhood and fear of crime. Understanding these factors may assist in reducing fear, which has been associated with poorer physical and mental health. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the effect of recorded crime rates on fear differs based on the neighborhood social context (social fragmentation) using hierarchical regression modelling, with separate analyses by crime type. Recorded crimes (2008–2010) and national (New Zealand) survey data were used. Higher crime in a neighborhood was associated with higher fear of crime, with only small effect size differences in feelings of fear by recorded type of crime. However, when stratified, the associations between violent and drug/alcohol crimes and fear of crime were larger for those living in highly fragmented neighborhoods compared with less fragmented neighborhoods. Efforts to alleviate fear of crime should focus on the broader neighborhood social context in which these feelings are espoused.