Immigrants and Violence: The Importance of Neighborhood Context

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between violence and immigration. The importance of neighborhood context, including alcohol availability, was also investigated. Using data from block groups, these relationships were examined in three California communities with significant immigrant populations. Data on socioeconomic characteristics were combined with police data concerning youth and data on alcohol availability. These data were geocoded in a block group, and population-based rates were calculated. A specialized regression package was used to examine these relationships. Results indicated that immigration and youth violence were not related, but that violence was predicted by alcohol availability. Contextual factors such as family breakdown and professional role models were also found to be significant predictors of youth violence. Furthermore, the context of violence is important in understanding why violence varies within communities. Violence prevention efforts may benefit from regulatory efforts to reduce the high concentrations of alcohol outlets that exist in Latino neighborhoods.

Secondhand effects of student alcohol use reported by neighbors of colleges: the role of alcohol outlets

“…Community residents in these areas are likely to experience higher rates of neighborhood disruption. Such an interpretation is consistent with the literature on alcohol outlet density in general, which finds that higher outlet densities increase perceived availability of alcohol, lower retail price through increased competition, lower total cost to the drinker (including travel time), increases consumption of alcohol, and increases violence and other crime and disruption associated with drinking (Abbey et al, 1990;Alaniz et al, 1998;Scribner, Cohen, & Fisher, 2000;Berman et al, 2000). Given the crosssectional design of the current study, we cannot answer the question of which came first.…”

“…Physical, social, and economic availability of alcohol is associated with alcohol consumption among the general population (Parker, Wolz, & Harford, 1978;Rush, Steinberg, & Brook, 1986;Abbey, Scott, Olinsky, Quinn, & Andreski, 1990;Abbey, Scott, & Smith, 1993;Gruenewald, Madden, & Janes, 1992;Gruenewald, Miller, & Treno, 1993) and among young adolescents and older teenagers (O'Malley & Wagenaar, 1991;Wagenaar, 1993;Wagenaar et al, 1996;Jones-Webb et al, 1997). High density of alcohol outlets has been found to be associated with higher rates of alcohol-related health and social problems such as homicide (Scribner, Cohen, Kaplan, & Allen, 1999), assaultive violence (Alaniz, Parker, Gallegos, & Cartmill, 1996;Alaniz, Cartmill, & Parker, 1998;Gorman, Speer, Labouvie, & Subaiya, 1998a;Scribner, MacKinnon, & Dweyer, 1995;Speer, Labouvie, & Ontkush, 1998), domestic violence (Gorman, Labouvie, Speer, & Subaiya, 1998b), traffic safety outcomes (Rabow & Watts, 1982;Jewell & Brown, 1995;Scribner et al, 1994), and mortality, morbidity and economic costs (Tatlow, Clapp, & Hohman, 2000;Mann, Smart, Anglin, & Adlaf, 1991;Rabow & Watts, 1982;Scribner, Cohen, & Farley, 1998;Gorsky, Schwartz, & Dennis, 1988;Smart, Mann, & Suurvali, 1998). Alcohol outlets and advertising appear to be over-concentrated in ethnic minority communities (Alaniz, 2000;Hackbarth, Silvestri, & Cosper, 1995;Altman, Schooler, & Basil, 1991;…”

Assessing the Effects of Recent Immigration on Serious Property Crime in Austin, Texas

“…Our findings indicate that recent immigration is not a meaningful predictor of burglary, theft, or motor vehicle theft in this emerging urban gateway, once community variables are controlled for, which is consistent with the existing research on violent crime in tradition locations (Alaniz, Cartmill, and Parker 1998;Lee et al 2001;Martinez 2004;Reid et al 2005), and contrary to the recent research on violence in new locales (Shihadeh and Barranco 2010). There are a few possible explanations for why we do not see higher rates of property crime in new urban gateway communities.…”

The Sacramento Neighborhood Alcohol Prevention Project: Outcomes From a Community Prevention Trial*

“…Third, it may be argued that certain programs are most effectively and appropriately addressed at specific levels. For example, the problem of drinking and driving may be seen largely as a community-level problem, because the problem occurs as drinkers traverse the community-wide roadway system (Gruenewald et al, 1996), whereas illegal drinking in public or assaultive violence may be seen as more of a neighborhood problem (Alaniz et al, 1998).…”

“…Third, it may be argued that certain programs are most effectively and appropriately addressed at specific levels. For example, the problem of drinking and driving may be seen largely as a community-level problem, because the problem occurs as drinkers traverse the community-wide roadway system (Gruenewald et al, 1996), whereas illegal drinking in public or assaultive violence may be seen as more of a neighborhood problem (Alaniz et al, 1998).Fourth, whereas more formal responses to alcohol-related problems (e.g., enforcement of underage sales laws) might require the sort of political clout typically found at the city administrative level, less formal responses (e.g., training of parents on risks associated with drinking at underage parties) might be best implemented in contexts closer to those in which people live their daily lives-for example, trainings delivered through local CBOs such as parent-teacher organizations, church groups, or social-service programs. Finally, neighborhood-based interventions have shown promising results in other areas of health behaviors (O'Loughlin et al, 1999;Fisher et al, 1998).…”