IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v143y2019i2d10.1007_s11205-018-2004-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Structural Equation Model Estimation of the Role of Social Vulnerability as a Predictor of People’s Feelings of Unsafety

Author

Listed:
  • Riccardo Valente

    (Open University of Catalona)

  • Sergi Valera Pertegas

    (University of Barcelona)

  • Joan Guàrdia Olmos

    (University of Barcelona)

Abstract

People’s perception of insecurity is linked to a wide range of factors and up-to-date sources stress the impact of socially constructed concerns on feelings of unsafety. Building further on recent developments, the present research proposes a measure of social vulnerability focusing on future-oriented anxieties and self-perceived social exclusion as predictors of subjective perceptions of insecurity. Data gathered in a large-scale survey in Italy (N = 15,428) were analysed by implementing structural equation modeling in an attempt to address people’s vulnerability beyond the mere consideration of the likelihood of individuals’ involvement as the victims of a crime. The results provide evidence for the predictive role of social vulnerability on neighbourhood-based worries, victimization patterns and community cohesion. Moreover, the analysis show that health and financial precariousness, together with the perception of being marginalized or in some way excluded from society, may result in higher levels of subjective insecurity.

Suggested Citation

  • Riccardo Valente & Sergi Valera Pertegas & Joan Guàrdia Olmos, 2019. "A Structural Equation Model Estimation of the Role of Social Vulnerability as a Predictor of People’s Feelings of Unsafety," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 433-449, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:143:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-018-2004-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-018-2004-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-018-2004-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-018-2004-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rader, Nicole E. & Cossman, Jeralynn S. & Porter, Jeremy R., 2012. "Fear of crime and vulnerability: Using a national sample of Americans to examine two competing paradigms," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 134-141.
    2. Swatt, Marc L. & Varano, Sean P. & Uchida, Craig D. & Solomon, Shellie E., 2013. "Fear of crime, incivilities, and collective efficacy in four Miami neighborhoods," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 1-11.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Francisco Javier Blanco-Encomienda & Elena Rosillo-Díaz, 2021. "Quantitative evaluation of the production and trends in research applying the structural equation modelling method," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(2), pages 1599-1617, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kuen, Kiseong & Weisburd, David & White, Clair & Hinkle, Joshua C., 2022. "Examining impacts of street characteristics on residents' fear of crime: Evidence from a longitudinal study of crime hot spots," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. Gerdes, Madison B, 2023. "Assessing the relationship between gun ownership and fear of mass shootings," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    3. Rose Ann Camille C. Caliso & Jamil Paolo S. Francisco & Emmanuel M. Garcia, 2020. "Broad Insecurity and Perceived Victimization Risk," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 32(2), pages 160-179, July.
    4. Pickett, Justin T. & Ryon, Stephanie Bontrager, 2017. "Procedurally just cooperation: Explaining support for due process reforms in policing," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 9-20.
    5. Ana María Huesca González & Rolando-Oscar Grimaldo-Santamaría & María del Pilar Quicios García, 2021. "Subjective and Objective Insecurity in Spanish Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-17, December.
    6. Riccardo Valente & Mattia Vacchiano, 2021. "Determinants of the Fear of Crime in Argentina and Brazil: A Cross-Country Comparison of Non-Criminal and Environmental Factors Affecting Feelings of Insecurity," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 154(3), pages 1077-1096, April.
    7. Ward, Jeffrey T. & Link, Nathan W. & Taylor, Ralph B., 2017. "New windows into a broken construct: A multilevel factor analysis and DIF assessment of perceived incivilities," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 74-88.
    8. Breetzke, G.D. & Pearson, A.L., 2015. "Socially disorganized yet safe: Understanding resilience to crime in neighborhoods in New Zealand," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 444-452.
    9. Maura Kepper & Stephanie Broyles & Richard Scribner & Tung-Sung Tseng & Jovanny Zabaleta & Lauren Griffiths & Melinda Sothern, 2016. "Parental Perceptions of the Social Environment Are Inversely Related to Constraint of Adolescents’ Neighborhood Physical Activity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-19, December.
    10. Vincenzo Bove & Leandro Elia & Massimiliano Ferraresi, 2023. "Immigration, Fear of Crime, and Public Spending on Security," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 39(1), pages 235-280.
    11. Natalia Hanley & Leah Ruppanner, 2015. "Understanding the Effects of Crime on Women: Fear and Well-Being in the Context of Diverse Relationships," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-18, April.
    12. Nadezhda Golovchanova & Katja Boersma & Henrik Andershed & Karin Hellfeldt, 2021. "Affective Fear of Crime and Its Association with Depressive Feelings and Life Satisfaction in Advanced Age: Cognitive Emotion Regulation as a Moderator?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-15, April.
    13. Aldrin Abdullah & Massoomeh Hedayati Marzbali & Azizi Bahauddin & Mohammad Javad Maghsoodi Tilaki, 2015. "Broken Windows and Collective Efficacy," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(1), pages 21582440145, January.
    14. Pablo Gaitán-Rossi & Ce Shen, 2018. "Fear of Crime in Mexico: The Impacts of Municipality Characteristics," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(1), pages 373-399, January.
    15. Heeuk D. Lee & Francis D. Boateng & David Kim & Cooper Maher, 2022. "Residential stability and fear of crime: Examining the impact of homeownership and length of residence on citizens’ fear of crime," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(1), pages 141-154, January.
    16. Swatt, Marc L. & Varano, Sean P. & Uchida, Craig D. & Solomon, Shellie E., 2013. "Fear of crime, incivilities, and collective efficacy in four Miami neighborhoods," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 1-11.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:143:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-018-2004-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.