Extrapolative simulation of neighborhood networks based on population spatial distribution: Do they predict crime?

Objectives

Previous criminological scholarship has posited that network ties among neighborhood residents may impact crime rates, but has done little to consider the specific ways in which network structure may enhance or inhibit criminal activity. A lack of data on social ties has arguably led to this state of affairs. We propose to avoid this limitation by demonstrating a novel approach of extrapolatively simulating network ties and constructing structural network measures to assess their effect on neighborhood crime rates.

Methods

We first spatially locate the households of a city into their constituent blocks. Then, we employ spatial interaction functions based on prior empirical work and simulate a network of social ties among these residents. From this simulated network, we compute network statistics that more appropriately capture the notions of cohesion and information diffusion that underlie theories of networks and crime.

Results

We show that these network statistics are robust predictors of the levels of crime in five separate cities (above standard controls) at the very micro geographic level of blocks and block groups.

Conclusions

We conclude by considering extensions of the approach that account for homophily in the formation of network ties.     

Challenging Ethno-National Division: New Social Movements in Belfast

Literature on social movements in societies undergoing violent ethno-national conflict between two ‘warring factions’ has typically concentrated on civil rights, ethnic revivalists, peace and women's groups. This paper concentrates on two loose groupings – lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender, and ‘ban-the-bomb’ – that have been ignored. I argue that in the context of a ‘divided city’ like Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, these collective actors can be analysed as New Social Movements. Specifically, I look at how these new social movements have sought to experiment with forms of intercultural dialogue, expressive pluralistic communities which embrace unity through diversity and cosmopolitan, global identities which challenges the competitive, monolithic and divisive nationalisms which contribute to the sedimentation of violence and segregation of Irish Nationalists and British Unionists in the city.     

The Impact of Educational Efforts on First-Year University Students' Acceptance of Meningococcal Vaccine

Abstract

The authors measured the impact of educational efforts on the number of college students who received meningococcal vaccine. First-year Brown University students from the classes of 2004 (n = 1,562) and 2005 (n = 1,518) received educational vaccine materials before they arrived on campus, whereas students from the class of 2003 (n = 1,441) did not. Students in the class of 2003, 13% (n = 184) of whom had received vaccine before their arrival on campus, served as the baseline. These educational efforts by the college health services before students arrived on campus increased the number of students immunized before campus arrival to 46% (n = 724) for the class of 2004, and 60% (n = 913) for the class of 2005. Education about the benefits of meningococcal vaccine before students' arrival on campus increased both the number of immunized students and the overall immunization rate among students.     

The Influence of Parent and Peer Attachments on Life Satisfaction in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence

Satisfaction in different life domains wasexamined with respect to parent and peerattachment relationships in middle childhoodand early adolescence. Three hundred threestudents, evenly distributed across sex andgrade (fourth, sixth, and eighth) wereadministered People in My Life, ameasure of attachment relationships, and theMultidimensional Students' LifeSatisfaction Scale. Children and earlyadolescents in this sample generally reportedhigh levels of life satisfaction. Some sex andgrade differences in satisfaction with variouslife domains emerged. Attachments to bothparents and peers predicted life satisfaction,although the influence of these relationshipsvaried as a function of grade level and lifedomain. Findings are reviewed in relation topast research, and implications forprofessional practice are discussed.     

Improving breastfeeding rates in an “at risk” population

A new public health frontier challenging maternity care is addressing the sub-optimal breastfeeding rates of women who are obese. Despite the World Health Organisation's recommendation that breastfeeding is initiated within the first hour of birth and continued exclusively for six months, less than half of infants and young children globally are optimally breastfed. While initiation rates of exclusive breastfeeding immediately after birth are as high as 90 percent in Australia, this rate dramatically declines in the first few weeks postpartum, with only approximately 15 percent of infants exclusively breastfed to five months of age (less than 6 months). The aim of this paper was to highlight difficulties obese women have breastfeeding and highlight implications for research and practice.