Which "broken windows" matter? School, neighborhood, and family characteristics associated with youths' feelings of unsafety.
Young people's fears of victimization and feelings of unsafety constitute a serious and pervasive public health problem and appear to be associated with different factors than actual victimization. Our analysis of a population-based telephone survey of youths aged 10-18 years in five economically distressed cities and their suburbs reveals that a substantial minority of youths feel unsafe on any given day, and that an even greater number feel unsafe in school. While some traditional predictors of victimization (such as low socioeconomic status) were associated with feeling unsafe, perceived school disorder was the major factor associated with such feelings. Disorderliness may thus be the school's version of "broken windows," which serve to signal to students a lack of consistent adult concern and oversight that can leave them feeling unsafe. We suggest that fixing the broken windows of school disorderliness may have a significant, positive impact on adolescents' feelings of safety.
Mijanovich
Tod
T
NYU Center for Health and Public Service Research, Robert F Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, 726 Broadway, Fifth Floor, New York, NY 10003, USA. tm11@nyu.edu
Weitzman
Beth C
BC
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012449:Safety; D012574:Schools / Q000592:standards*; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States; D014505:Urban Population; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology