The effects of building size on personal crime and fear of crime

The research that formed the basis of Newman's bookDefensible Space demonstrated that building height is one of the leading predictors of robbery rate in low-income public housing projects. Research reported in this article was undertaken to extend the scope and detail of the earlier work and, most importantly, to examine the causal mechanisms underlying the relationship of physical design to crime and fear of crime. The study sites in this new research are moderate-income, federallyassisted housing developments and low-income public housing projects. The major source of data is a household survey of residents. The findings provide important empirical support for the postulates of defensible space theory by showing that building size affects personal crime and fear of crime through residents' control and use of the space outside their apartments. Building size has a large total effect on residents' fear of crime, but despite its important indirect effects on personal crime, the total effect of building size on personal crime is not as strong as expected. Possible reasons for this unexpected finding are used to suggest refinements to defensible space theory.This paper is based on the final report of a study of crime and instability supported by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, U.S. Department of Justice, Grant 76-NI-99-0036-S-2. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association in Toronto, August, 1981. The authors are grateful to Ralph Taylor and anonymous reviewers for their suggestions.     

Even Cycles and Perfect Matching Problems with Side Constraints

We study two different types of graphs that contain even cycles and, possibly, some chords. The objective is to analyze some properties of these types of graphs that can be used to solve perfect matching optimization problems with side constraints. In particular, we obtain the maximum number of edges of certain classes that can occur in the solutions to the considered problems. Finally, we apply the obtained results to derive a class of valid inequalities and a possible enumerative scheme.     

Health Status,Living Arrangements,and Service Use at 100: Findings From the Oporto Centenarian Study

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the sociodemographic characteristics, health status, and service use of centenarians living in the community and centenarians residing in an elder care facility/nursing home and examines their main differences. Participants were 140 centenarians from the population-based Oporto Centenarian Study (M_age = 101.2; SD = 1.6). Main findings revealed that the majority of the centenarians lived at home with their family members (57.9%). Increased health care needs, living alone, and family caregiving constraints were the most common reasons for entering a nursing home. Community-dwelling centenarians were cared for mostly by their children and were less dependent and in better cognitive health than those who resided in a nursing home. Differences were found in the pattern of health service use according to the centenarians’ residence, ability to pay medical expenses, and dependency level. Findings highlight the need for an accurate assessment of caregiving support systems, particularly family intergenerational duties, and of the factors constraining the access and use of health and social services. Policy makers may be guided by the insights gained from this research and work toward improvement of support options and removal of barriers to service access.     

A Data-Driven Approach to Construct Survey-Based Indicators by Means of Evolutionary Algorithms

Despite growing understanding of resilience as a process associated with both individual capacities and physical and relational resources located in social ecologies, most instruments designed to measure resilience overemphasize individual characteristics without adequately addressing the contextual resources that support resilience processes. Additionally, most resilience studies have focused on children and youth, without significant attention to social ecological factors that promote post-risk adaptation for adults and how this is measured. Consequently, a key issue in the continued study of adult resilience is measurement instrument development. This article details adaptation of the Child and Youth Resilience Measure for use with an adult population. The article draws on data from a mixed methods study exploring the resilience processes of Irish survivors of clerical institutional abuse. The sample included 105 adult survivors (aged 50–99) who completed the RRC-ARM and the Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) during the first phase of the study. Exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach Alpha and MANOVA were conducted on the data. EFA identified five factors; social/community inclusion, family attachment and supports, spirituality, national and cultural identity, and personal competencies. The RRC-ARM shows good internal reliability and convergent validity with the WEMWBS, with significant differences on scale scores for men and women, as well as place of residence. This exploratory adaptation supports the potential of the RRC-ARM as a measure of social ecological resilience resources for adult populations and may have particular applications with vulnerable communities. Further validation is required in other contexts and specifically with larger samples.     

Educating for difference in a Romany community in Spain: an exercise in integration

The marginalization of the Romany community in Spain, as elsewhere in the world, has its roots in a centuries‐old history of ethnic segregation. In response, the Romany community has come to feel intimidated and rejected. This has led to the establishment of communities on the outskirts of cities, generally with very poor living standards. In this paper I shall describe the social integration process of Romanies in one particular state school, presenting ethnographic information gathered in the course of fieldwork carried out within a project funded by the European Union on disruptive behaviour in contemporary schooling. A key focus in the project was the creation of a safe learning environment in schools, a matter of concern for all involved in education. Using participant observation and in‐depth interviews I was able to gather abundant ethnographic information on the school relating to the perceptions of students, families and teachers. Where informative, I also relate our findings to the existing anthropological literature on cultural differences and schooling.     

A multidimensional employment quality index for Brazil, 2002–11

In countries where informal, insecure jobs are widespread, traditional labour market indicators – such as the unemployment rate, labour force participation rate and wages – are not necessarily the most meaningful. The authors use a multidimensional employment quality index to analyse the Brazilian labour market over the period 2002–11, across three dimensions: earnings, formality (measured by the existence of an employment contract and social security contributions) and job tenure. The results show a significant increase in employment quality overall, especially in the years 2009–11, but with considerable differences between wage employees and self‐employed workers, and between industries.