Citation

Pearson AL, Breetzke GD, Ivory V. Am. J. Community Psychol. 2015; 56(1-2): 170-179.

Affiliation

Department of Geography, Michigan State University, 673 Auditorium Road, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA, apearson@msu.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1007/s10464-015-9741-z

PMID

26163273

Abstract

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.

Language: en