The Cumulative Risk Model to encompass perceived urban safety and well-being
Abstract
The Cumulative Risk Model (CRM) has usually been applied to developmental and quality of life psychology; however, the CRM could also be applied to the urban safety and personal well-being of people living in urban environments, since cities are complex, multi-risk scenarios. This paper presents two studies meant to provide evidence in support of this hypothesis. The first study (N=287) was aimed to create and validate a set of scales to measure the cumulative risk index and to pilot study two. Study two (N = 540), instead, aimed at showing how a higher number of risk factors is associated to a higher level of perception of insecurity/fear of crime and a smaller level of wellbeing/satisfaction with life and provided consistent correlational evidence, controlling for the neighborhood effect. These studies showed that the CRM can be used to study urban safety issues, since perception of personal safety, fear of crime and well-being are multidimensional constructs, and are affected by a large series of environmental and psychosocial risk factors. The CRM could have significant applications for policymaking and urban renovation.
References
psychological reactions to crime in Italy: An analysis of fear of crime and concern about crime as a social problem. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 15, 17-28.
Amerio, P. & Roccato, M. (2007). Psychological reactions to crime in Italy: 2002-2004. Journal of Community Psychology, 35, 91-102.
Amerio, P. (1999). Dimensioni della sicurezza. In P. Amerio (Ed.). Il senso della sicurezza. Milano: Unicopli, pp. 15-22.
Appleyard, K., Egeland, B., van Dulmen, M.H.M. & Sroufe, L.A. (2005). When more is not better: The role of cumulative risk in child behavior outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46, 235-245.
Austin, D.M., Furr, L.A. & Spine, M. (2002). The effects of neighborhoods conditions on perceptions of safety. Journal of Criminal Justice, 30, 417-427
Becker, F. (1995). Workplace by design: Mapping the high-performance workscape. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco.
Berwick, D.M., Murphy, J.M., Goldman, P.A., Ware, J.E., Barsky, A.J. & Weinstein, M.C. (1991). Performance of a five-item mental health screening test, Medical Care, 29, 169-176.
Bonaiuto, M., Fornara, F. & Bonnes, M. (2006). Perceived residential environment quality in middle- and low-extension italian cities. Revue Européenne de Psychologie Appliquée – European Review of Applied Psychology, 56, 23-34.
Bonaiuto, M., Fornara, F., Ariccio, S., Ganucci Cancellieri, U., & Rahimi, L. (2015). Perceived Residential Environment Quality Indicators (PREQIs) relevance for UN-HABITAT City Prosperity Index (CPI). Habitat International, 45, 53–63.
Bonaiuto, M., Aiello, A., Perugini, M., Bonnes, M., Ercolani, A.P. (1999). Multidimensional perception of residential environment quality and neighbourhood attachment in the urban environment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 19, 331–352.
Bonnes, M., & Secchiaroli, G. (1995). Environmental psychology: A psycho-social introduction (C. Montagna, Trans.). Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, Inc.
Bonnes, M., Secchiaroli, G. (1992). Psicologia ambientale. Introduzione alla psicologia sociale dell’ambiente. Roma: Carocci.
Brantingham, P.J. & Brantingham, P.L. (1997). Understanding and controlling crime and fear of crime: Conflicts and trade-offs in crime prevention planning. In S.P. Lab (Ed.), Crime Prevention at a Crossroads. Anderson, Cincinnati, OH.Bronfenbrenner U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Casteel, C. & Peek-Asa, C. (2000). Effectiveness of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) in reducing robberies. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 18, 99-115.
Cohen, S., Kamarck, T. & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Psychology, 24, pp 385-396.
Conde, K., & Pina, S. (2014). Urban dimensions for neighborhoods with higher environmental value. The Sustainable City IX.
Conklin, J.E. (1975). The impact of crime. New York: Macmillan.
Covington, J. & Taylor, R.B. (1991). Fear of crime in urban residential neighbourhoods: Implications of between- and within-neighbourhood sources for current models. The Sociological Quarterly, 32, 231-249.
Diener, E., Suh, E.M., Lucas, R.E. & Smith, H.L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276-302.
Evans, G.W. & Marcynyszyn, L.A. (2004). Environmental justice, cumulative environmental risk, and health among low- and middle-income children in upstate New York. American Journal of Public Health, 94, 1942-1944.
Evans, G.W. (2003). A multimethodological analysis of cumulative risk and allostatic load among rural children. Developmental Psychology, 39, 924-933.
Evans, G.W. (2004). The environment of childhood poverty. American Psychologist, 59, 77-92.
Ferguson, K.M. & Mindel, C.H. (2007). Modeling fear of crime in Dallas neighborhoods: A test of social capital theory. Crime & Delinquency, 53, 322- 349.
Ferraro, K.F. & LaGrange, R.L. (1987). The measurement of fear of crime. Sociological Inquiry, 57, 70-101.
Ferraro, K.F. & LaGrange, R.L. (1992). Are older people most afraid of crime? Reconsidering age differences in fear of victimization. Journal of Gerontology, 47, S233–S244.
Fornara, F., Ariccio, S., Rioux, L., Moffat, E., Mariette, J.-Y., Bonnes, M., & Bonaiuto, M. (2018). Vérification de la structure factorielle et de la fiabilité des preqis en France et test d’un modèle de prédiction de l’attachement au quartier : une étude sur un échantillon parisien. Pratiques Psychologiques, 24(2), 131–156.
Garofalo, J. & Laub, J. (1978). The fear of crime: Broadening our perspective. Victimology, 3, 242-253.
Gifford, R. (2007). Environmental psychology: principles and practice. Canada: Optimal Books.
Greenberg, M.T., Lengua, L.J., Coie, J.D. & Pinderhughes, E.E. (1999). Predicting developmental outcomes at school entry using a multiple-risk model: Four American communities. Developmental Psychology, 35, 403-417.
Hale, C. (1996). Fear of crime: A review of the literature. International Review of Victimology, 4, 79-150.
Hall, E.T. (1966). The hidden dimension. New York: Doubleday.
Hunter, A. (1978). Symbols of incivility: Social disorder and fear of crime in urban neighborhoods. Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Dallas, Texas.
Kawaki, I., Kennedy, B.P. & Wilkinson, R.G. (1999). Crime: Social disorganization and relative deprivation. Social Science & Medicine, 48, 719-731.
Kruger, D.J., Reischl, T.M. & Gee, G.C. (2007). Neighborhood social conditions mediate the association between physical deterioration and mental health. American Journal of Community Psychology, 40, 261-271.
Leventhal, T. & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2000). The neighborhood they live in: the effects of neighborhood residence on child and adolescent outcomes, Psychological Bulletin, 126, 309-337.
Lewis, D.A. & Salem, G. (1986). Fear of crime: Incivility and the production of a social problem. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
Loewen, L.J., Steel, G.D. & Suedfeld, P. (1993). Perceived safety from crime in the urban environment. Journal of environmental psychology, 13, 323-331.
Mao, Y., Fornara, F., Manca, S., Bonnes, M., & Bonaiuto, M. (2015). Perceived Residential Environment Quality Indicators and neighborhood attachment: A confirmation study on a Chinese sample in Chongqing. PsyCh Journal, 4(3), 123–137.
Merry S.E. (1981). Urban danger. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Miceli, R., Roccato, M. & Rosato, R. (2004). Fear of Crime in Italy: Spread and determinants. Environment and Behavior, 36, 776-789.
Motl, R. W., Dishman, R. K., Saunders, R. P., Dowda, M., & Pate, R. R. (2006). Perceptions of Physical and Social Environment Variables and Self-Efficacy as Correlates of Self-Reported Physical Activity Among Adolescent Girls. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 32(1), 6–12.
Nasar, J. L., & Fisher, B. (1993). ‘Hot spots’ of fear and crime: A multi-method investigation. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 13, 187-206.
Newman, O. (1972). Defensible space. New York: Macmillan.
Pantazis, C. (2000). Fear of crime, vulnerability and poverty. British Journal of Criminology, 40, 414-436.
Pavot, W. & Diener, E. (1993). Review of the Satisfaction With Life Scale. Psychological Assessment, 5, 164-172.
Prezza, M., Costantini, S., Chiarolanza, V. & di Marco, S. (1999). La scala italiana del senso di comunità (The Italian sense of community scale). Psicologia della Salute, 3, 135-159.
Riger S., LeBailly R.K. & Gordon M.T. (1981). Community ties and urbanites’ fear of crime: An ecological investigation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 653-665.
Ross, C., & Mirowsky, J. (2001). Neighborhood disadvantage, disorder, and health. Journal of health and social behavior, 258-276.
Rountree, P.W. (1998). A re-examination of the crime-fear linkage. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 35, 341-372.
Rutter, M. (1979). Protective factors in children’s responses to stress and disadvantage. In M.W. Kent & J.E. Rolf (Eds.), Primary prevention of psychopathology, Vol. 3: Social competence in children (p. 49-74). Hanover, NH: University of New England Press.
Sameroff, A.J., Bartko, W.T., Baldwin, A., Baldwin, C. & Seifer, R. (1998). Family and social influences on the development of child competence. In M. Lewis & C. Feiring (Eds.), Families, risk, and competence (161-183). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Sampson, R.J. & Groves, W.B. (1989). Community structure and crime: Testing social disorganization theory. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 774-802.
Sampson, R.J. & Raudenbush, S.W. (1999). Systematic social observation of public spaces: A new look at disorder in urban neighborhoods. American Journal of Sociology, 105, 603-651.
Sampson, R.J., Raudenbush, S.W., Earls F. (1997). Neighborhoods and violent crime: A multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science, 227, 918-923.
Sampson, R.J., Raudenbush, S.W., (2004). Seeing disorder: Neighborhood stigma and the social construction of “Broken Windows”. Social Psychology Quarterly, 67, 319-342.
Skogan, W.G. & Maxfield, G.M. (1981). Coping with crime: Individual and Neighborhood reactions. Sage, London.
Sommer, R. (1987). Crime and vandalism in university residence
halls: A confirmation of defensible space theory. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 7, 1-12.
Szatmari, P., Shannon, H.S. & Offord, D.R. (1994). Models of multiple risk: Psychiatric disorder and poor school performance. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 4, 231-240.
Taylor, R.B. (2002). Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED): Yes, no, maybe, unknowable, and all of the above. In R.B. Bechtel, A. Churchman (Eds.). Handbook of Environmental Psychology, New York: Wiley, pp. 413-427
Venhoeven, L., Taufik, D., Steg, L., Bonaiuto, M., Bonnes, M., Ariccio, S., De Dominicis, S., Scopelliti, M., van den Bosch, M., Piff, P., Zhang, J.W., Keltner, D. (2018) The role of nature and environment in behavioural medicine. In W. Bird & M. van den Bosch (Eds). Nature and Public Health: The Role of Nature in Improving the Health of a Population. Oxford: Oxford University Press (p. 89-94). ISBN: 9780198725916.
Watson, D., Clark, L.A. & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-1070.
Winkel, G., Saegert, S. & Evans, G.W. (2009). An ecological perspective on theory, methods, and analysis in environmental psychology: Advances and challenges. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 29, 318-328.
Zani, B., Cicognani, E. & Albanesi, C. (2001). Adolescents’ sense of community and feeling of unsafety in the urban environment. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 11, 457-489.
