142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

298964
Influence of Individual- and Neighborhood-Level Factors on Fear of Crime among Adolescents

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 12:30 PM - 12:50 PM

Erin Grinshteyn, PhD , School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
David Eisenman, MD, MSHS , Center for Public Health and Disasters, UCLA Schools of Medicine and Public Health, Los Angeles, CA
William E. Cunningham, MD, MPH , David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Ronald M. Andersen, PhD , Department of Health Services, UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA
Susan Ettner, PhD , David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Division of General Internal Medicine & Health Services Research Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Introduction: Fear of neighborhood crime is rising among adolescents. This research analyzed neighborhood- and individual-level predictors of fear.

Methods: Adolescents (n=2,574) were analyzed using Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) data. Marginal effects were calculated for generalized ordered logit models assessing fear of neighborhood crime as the outcome, which was measured as a three-category variable (i.e., no fear, a little fear, a lot of fear).

Results: Adolescents who saw violence happen to another person saw their chances of experiencing no fear decrease by 10% (p=0.01) and their chances of experiencing a little fear increase by 8% (p=0.05). For those experiencing violence, there was a 9% reduction in their chances of experiencing no fear (p=0.02).

Each one-point increase in physical decay was associated with a 14% increase in the likelihood of feeling a little fear (p=0.01). Each one-point increase in social disorder was associated with a 44% reduction in feeling no fear (p=0.03). Worsening residential housing conditions were associated with being more likely to feel a lot of fear (ME=0.10, p=0.01). Finally, police visibility was strongly and significantly connected to reduced fear (ME=0.88, p<0.0001).

Conclusions: Fear of crime is a social problem. Policy aimed at reducing fear of crime could affect more people than policies aimed at reducing actual crime, as fear is more widespread than actual victimization. Reducing fear would then reduce negative physical, behavioral, and behavioral health outcomes as well as costs associated with fear.

Learning Areas:

Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Evaluate the causes and consequences of fear of neighborhood crime among adolescents. Describe the individual and neighborhood factors associated with fear of crime among adolescents. Discuss the effects of various predictors on neighborhood fear among adolescents. Formulate ideas for policies to address these predictors of fear.

Keyword(s): Adolescents, Violence & Injury Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been working on this research related to individual and neighborhood determinants of fear of crime among adolescents for five years as part of my dissertation and now academic work. In addition, I have worked on a variety of studies examining exposure to violence with other researchers. I am continuing to work on issues related to individual and neighborhood determinants in other projects related to my research and teaching.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.