Most prior research testing the hypothesis of the social disorganization theory that residential instability increases crime has used cross-sectional data. Using a unique dataset linking home sales address matched to census tracts with crime data in Los Angeles, we test the direction of this relationship using a six-year panel data design. We also…

This paper explores reasons why secondary schools with a religious character have pupil intakes that are of a higher social background and ability than their secular counterparts. We show that this is especially true across all regions in England once the characteristics of the pupils living in the local neighbourhoods are taken into account. Data…

This paper reports the development and validation of the Neighborhood Observation Scale, a 41 item measure of neighborhood physical appearance, social appearance, safety, and amenities. Three independent ratings were collected on each of 244 neighborhoods in 132 census block groups in five South Carolina counties, for a total of 732 observations.…

This paper considers the process by which individuals estimate the risk of adverse events, with particular attention to the social context in which risk estimates are formed. We compare subjective probability estimates of crime victimization to actual victimization experiences among respondents from the 1994 to 2002 waves of the Survey of Economic…

Living in a threatening, noxious, and dangerous neighborhood may produce anxiety, anger, and depression because it is subjectively alienating. We hypothesize that neighborhood disorder represents ambient threat that elicits perceptions of powerlessness, normlessness, mistrust, and isolation. These perceptions in turn lead to anxious and angry…

Interest in the effects of neighborhood context on individual wellbeing has increased in recent years. We now know that neighborhood conditions, such as poverty and deprivation, negatively impact residents. However, most of the extant work has taken an urban focus. Less is known about these processes in rural settings. Neighborhood…

Americans change residences frequently. Residential mobility can reflect positive changes in a family's circumstances or be a symptom of instability and insecurity. Mobility may also change neighborhoods as a whole. To shed light on these challenges, this report uses a unique survey conducted for the "Making Connections" initiative. The…

Distressed urban neighborhoods face challenges on multiple fronts, but most efforts to confront these problems work in isolation of one another. The New Communities Program (NCP) is an exception, helping selected Chicago neighborhoods develop partnerships to address challenges involving employment, education, housing, and safety in a…

This paper examines volunteerism across three neighbourhood types that are differentiated by socio-economic status (SES) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The three neighbourhood types are defined as Low, Middle and High SES. The study used data collected from two telephone surveys (n = 968 in 2001, n = 997 in 2004) using random-digit dialling,…

Background: Children growing up in poor versus affluent neighborhoods are more likely to spend time in prison, develop health problems and die at an early age. The question of how neighborhood conditions influence our behavior and health has attracted the attention of public health officials and scholars for generations. Online tools are now…

This study investigated the sense of community among residents in the Spanish city of Malaga and the relationship between the components of the sense of community and the quality of life. Given that the phenomenon of immigration is a fact of city life, the authors examine how such coexistence could affect the sense of community and the quality of…

Social integration in community is especially important for individuals with disabilities well-being. Although individuals with disabilities reside within the community's physical environment, they are often marginalized in the social environment. This may be the result of individuals with disabilities residing in physical environments that…

Despite evidence that neighborhoods confer both risk and resilience for youth development, the existing neighborhood research has a number of methodological limitations including lack of diversity in neighborhoods sampled and neighborhood characteristics assessed. The purpose of this study was to address these methodological limitations of…

Using a sample of households nested in census tracts in 24 metropolitan areas over four time points, this study provides a robust test of the determinants of neighborhood satisfaction, taking into account the census tract context. Consistent with social disorganization theory, the presence of racial/ethnic heterogeneity and single-parent…

The United States is currently experiencing an epidemic of children who are overweight or obese. Recently, research on child obesity has begun to examine the relationship between neighborhood environments and the health behaviors of youths. The current study used growth curve analysis based on multilevel modeling to examine the relationship…