TY - JOUR
T1 - Incivilities in nonmetropolitan communities
T2 - The effects of structural constraints, social conditions, and crime
AU - Reisig, Michael D.
AU - Cancino, Jeffrey Michael
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was supported by grant #97-CK-WX-0010 awarded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this document are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. A previous version of this article was presented at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Anaheim, California. The authors would like to thank Kristy Holtfreter and Chris Maxwell for their assistance.
PY - 2004/1
Y1 - 2004/1
N2 - Guided by social disorganization theory and the emerging concept of collective efficacy, this study used three sources of data, including community surveys administered to 1,125 citizens nested in thirty-one residential units, and hierarchical modeling techniques to examine the effects of structural features and collective social processes, net of property crime (i.e., burglary) and citizen-level sociodemographic characteristics, on perceived incivilities (i.e., signs of physical decay and social disorder) in nonmetropolitan communities. The results showed that respondents living in economically disadvantaged geographic areas were significantly more likely to perceive their immediate surroundings in more negative terms (i.e., higher levels of incivilities). Respondents living in residential units characterized by higher levels of collective efficacy (i.e., a composite measure consisting of both cohesion and control), however, reported significantly fewer incivility problems. When assessed separately, social cohesion partially mediated the effects of economic disadvantage. The findings indicated that social disorganization theory generalizes to less densely populated, nonmetropolitan communities.
AB - Guided by social disorganization theory and the emerging concept of collective efficacy, this study used three sources of data, including community surveys administered to 1,125 citizens nested in thirty-one residential units, and hierarchical modeling techniques to examine the effects of structural features and collective social processes, net of property crime (i.e., burglary) and citizen-level sociodemographic characteristics, on perceived incivilities (i.e., signs of physical decay and social disorder) in nonmetropolitan communities. The results showed that respondents living in economically disadvantaged geographic areas were significantly more likely to perceive their immediate surroundings in more negative terms (i.e., higher levels of incivilities). Respondents living in residential units characterized by higher levels of collective efficacy (i.e., a composite measure consisting of both cohesion and control), however, reported significantly fewer incivility problems. When assessed separately, social cohesion partially mediated the effects of economic disadvantage. The findings indicated that social disorganization theory generalizes to less densely populated, nonmetropolitan communities.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2003.10.002
DO - 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2003.10.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0346307360
SN - 0047-2352
VL - 32
SP - 15
EP - 29
JO - Journal of Criminal Justice
JF - Journal of Criminal Justice
IS - 1
ER -