RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationship between neighborhood social structure, alcohol outlet densities and violent crime in Camden, New Jersey. METHOD: Data pertaining to neighborhood social structure, violent crime and alcohol density were collected for 98 block groups, and analyzed using bivariate, multivariate and spatial analyses. RESULTS: Each type of analysis showed that those areas with high alcohol outlet densities experienced more violent crime than low-density areas, after controlling for neighborhood social structure. In the multivariate regression analysis, alcohol outlet densities explained close to one fifth of the variability in violent crime rates across block groups--more than any one of the neighborhood structural variables included in the analysis. These findings were replicated in the spatial analysis, which also showed that alcohol outlet densities contributed significantly to violent crime within target block groups but not in adjacent block groups. CONCLUSIONS: High alcohol outlet density is associated with high rates of violent crime in this urban community. Spatial analysis suggests that alcohol outlets elevate the rate of violent crime within the immediate neighborhood context, not in surrounding neighborhoods.
Asunto(s)
Alcoholismo/epidemiología , Crimen/estadística & datos numéricos , Etanol , Violencia/estadística & datos numéricos , Adolescente , Niño , Procesos de Grupo , Humanos , Características de la ResidenciaRESUMEN
Empowerment theory represents an expansive view of individual and collective behavior that includes the active participation of individuals and groups in altering and shaping the socioenvironmental context. Critical to health educators are local interventions that yield participation of community members and empowerment for participants. The concept of social cohesion embraces participation but expands this behavioral emphasis to incorporate notions of trust, connectedness, and civic engagement. This study presents two data sets on the relationship of participation to empowerment. The first replicates and extends previous research by examining participation with interactional as well as intrapersonal empowerment. Second is the examination of how the quality of the participatory experience--the cohesive nature of participation--is related to interactional and intrapersonal empowerment. Findings support and extend previous findings, reliably cluster residents by the degree of connectedness in their participatory experiences, and reveal that social cohesion is related to intrapersonal empowerment.
Asunto(s)
Participación de la Comunidad/psicología , Poder Psicológico , Adolescente , Adulto , Anciano , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , New England/epidemiología , Ajuste Social , Apoyo SocialRESUMEN
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among sociodemographic variables, alcohol outlet density, and rate of domestic violence in New Jersey. Data were obtained for the 223 largest municipalities in the state and were examined using factor analysis and bivariate and multivariate analyses. Three sociodemographic factors were extracted through factor analysis. These explained 58% of the variance among municipalities in rates of domestic violence. One factor--termed social disadvantage--explained the greatest amount of unique variance (42%). Alcohol outlet density added nothing to the sociodemographic model and did not interact with any of the three sociodemographic factors. The findings show that, in the state of New Jersey, higher levels of alcohol outlet density are not geographically associated with higher rates of domestic violence. These findings may be due to limitations in the data sets employed in the study, limitations of the macrolevel analysis employed, and/or the complex nature of the relationship between alcohol use and domestic violence.
Asunto(s)
Consumo de Bebidas Alcohólicas/epidemiología , Violencia Doméstica , Adolescente , Adulto , Consumo de Bebidas Alcohólicas/economía , Niño , Violencia Doméstica/economía , Violencia Doméstica/estadística & datos numéricos , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Análisis Multivariante , New Jersey/epidemiología , Análisis de Regresión , Factores SocioeconómicosRESUMEN
The relationship between violent crime, neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics, and alcohol outlet densities in Newark, New Jersey is reported, thus extending previous research of municipalities at more refined levels of analysis. Alcohol outlet densities were significant predictors in regression models, but rates of violent crime were better predicted in larger units (R2 = .673 for the census tract level vs. .543 at the census block group level). Alcohol outlet densities, however, were more predictive of violent crime at smaller units of analysis (change in R2 with the addition of alcohol outlet densities was .194 at the census tract level vs. .278 at the census block group level). Findings suggest that alcohol outlets represent a form of "undesirable land use" in urban neighborhoods that are a manifestation of increasingly concentrated economic disadvantage in the United States.
Asunto(s)
Consumo de Bebidas Alcohólicas/epidemiología , Comercio , Crimen/estadística & datos numéricos , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , New Jersey/epidemiología , Análisis de Regresión , Características de la Residencia , Factores Socioeconómicos , Población Urbana , Violencia/estadística & datos numéricosRESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: This study examined the relationship between rate of assaultive violence and density of alcohol outlets in New Jersey. METHODS: Data pertaining to assaultive violence, alcohol outlet density, and sociodemographic factors were obtained from municipalities in New Jersey (n = 223) and assessed through bivariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Sociodemographic factors accounted for 70% (R(2)=.70) of the variance in the rate of assaultive violence. Outlet density did not add significantly to the explained variance of this model. CONCLUSIONS: In New Jersey, alcohol outlet density is not geographically associated with higher rates of violence. Alternative methodological and analytic techniques are required to better specify the relationship between alcohol availability and violence.
Asunto(s)
Consumo de Bebidas Alcohólicas , Comercio , Violencia/estadística & datos numéricos , Adulto , Análisis de Varianza , Crimen/estadística & datos numéricos , Humanos , Masculino , New Jersey , Análisis de Regresión , Características de la Residencia , Factores Socioeconómicos , Población UrbanaRESUMEN
This study reports data from a mapping analysis designed to assess the extent to which liquor outlets concentrate in certain neighborhoods within one economically disadvantaged midsized city in New Jersey. Four neighborhoods, which occupy one-quarter of the residential land mass of the city and which are home to one-quarter of its population, were found to contain over half of its retail liquor outlets. Three of these neighborhoods are very poor and have large minority populations. The neighborhood with the highest concentration of outlets, however, has one of the lowest levels of poverty in the city and is ethnically quite diverse.
Asunto(s)
Comercio , Etanol , Consumo de Bebidas Alcohólicas , Etnicidad , Humanos , New Jersey , Factores Socioeconómicos , Población UrbanaRESUMEN
An important contribution to empowerment theory and community psychology practice can be made by examining how the concept of social power is developed and manifested in the context of community organizing. Theory and practice may be further informed through an ecological analysis of organizing processes and interventions. Lessons from a national community organizing network highlight the relationship between empowerment and power through a set of organizing principles and a cycle of organizing activity. Perhaps most important is the understanding that a reciprocal relationship exists between development of power for community organizations and individual empowerment for organization members. Implications for empowerment theory in the community organizing domain are provided in a matrix adapted from Zimmerman's description of empowerment processes and outcomes at multiple levels of analysis.
Asunto(s)
Redes Comunitarias , Organizaciones del Consumidor , Ecología , Poder Psicológico , Planificación de Ciudades , Participación de la Comunidad , Humanos , Relaciones Interpersonales , Evaluación de Procesos y Resultados en Atención de SaludRESUMEN
This study reports the findings of a field trial designed to assess the extent of alcohol sales to minors in one county in northwest New Jersey. Two 19-year-old males were successful in purchasing alcoholic beverages in 27 of 46 (58.7 percent) establishments visited. On the following day, 23 of the establishments that sold the alcohol were visited again and, on this occasion, 18 (78.3 percent) sold alcohol to the minor. This study supports the findings from surveys that show that underage drinkers can obtain alcohol with ease. Many community groups are now taking action to rectify this situation, and data of the type reported in this paper can be used to assess the effectiveness of their actions.