The proposed research examines the following possibility. Are neighborhood crime and crime-related problems, in the absence of social support networks and other coping resources, associated with fear of crome which, in turn, results in mental health decrements? This hypothesis is based on a stress and coping perspective. Crime and related problems, and sociodemographic changes are the stressors. Coping resources include areal as well as individual sources. Fear of crime is a short-term mental health stress effect, and mental health decrements are long-term stress effects. The proposed research uses a panel design. In each of 50 sampled neighborhoods, 40 residents will be interviewed at two points in time, with a year between interviews. Ecologically valid neighborhoods, for which we have sociodemographic and crime data, are sampled using an interval procedure. In the interviews we will assess mental health status using, e.g., the CES-D depression scale and SCL-90 scales. We will also assess direct and indirect victimization, fear of crime, perceptions of and sentiments toward neighborhood, recent major life events, behavioral restriction and protection, and sources of social support both within and outside of the neighborhood. Fear of crime at Time 1 will be used to predict mental health status at Time 2, controlling for mental health status at Time 1. Analyses will use confirmatory path analysis with contextual variables, and """"""""two stage"""""""" regressions. Links between un-attenuated high fear levels and mental health decrements will also be examined. Strengths of the research include: an excellent sampling of environments, attention to contextual as well as individual explanatory variables, a sampling plan which will allow for estimates of population parameters, and a truly longitudinal study design. The joint examination of crime, fear of crime, coping resources and changes in mental health status represents a most original feature of the proposed research.
| Dupere, Veronique; Perkins, Douglas D (2007) Community types and mental health: a multilevel study of local environmental stress and coping. Am J Community Psychol 39:107-19 |
| Perkins, D D; Taylor, R B (1996) Ecological assessments of community disorder: their relationship to fear of crime and theoretical implications. Am J Community Psychol 24:63-107 |
