NCJ Number
202007
Journal
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 19 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2003 Pages: 237-274
Editor(s)
David McDowall
Date Published
September 2003
Length
38 pages
Annotation
This study examined the connections over time between incivilities and both reactions to crime and local commitment.
Abstract
This study set out to exam individual and group impacts of incivilities on local satisfaction and reactions to crime. Within a longitudinal framework, the study attempted to separate out streetblock, or social-psychological dynamics from individual-level or psychological dynamics. A multilevel, longitudinal incivilities thesis was tested over a 1-year period using four outcomes, three of which were indices with excellent internal consistency. The three indices represent reactions to crimes and the fourth represents residential satisfaction. Four possible pathways of incivilities’ influence were tested: lagged versus co-occurring and individual versus neighborhood-level impacts. Results showed at the individual level, incivilities showed an unambiguous lagged impact on three of the four outcomes and changes in perceived incivilities linked with changes in two outcomes. At the streetblock level, incivilities failed to demonstrate an unambiguous lagged impact on either of the two outcomes where the data structures permitted such impacts. Ecological changes did however connect with changes on two outcomes, suggesting an intertwining of these various threads of ecological change. Tables and references