Social Support and Crime

Individual Risk, Country-Level Social Support, and Bullying and Cyberbullying Victimization Among Youths: A Cross-national Study

“…Practically speaking, these findings point to the importance of efforts aimed at enhancing country-level social support in the form of quality of human development (e.g., efforts on the part of the United Nations and its specialized agencies such as the World Bank Group the World Health Organization, and the World Food Programme) in comprehensive, global approaches to youth victimization prevention. As Chouey (2019, p. 233) suggests, findings aligned with social support theory provide a framework “to expand broader crime prevention strategies aimed at providing support to individuals and communities”— strategies such as “expanding the welfare state, reducing poverty and inequality, and facilitating the provision of social supports from institutional actors and family members appear to be important elements in a comprehensive public safety plan.”…”

“…Measurement concerns also exist with respect to our key national-level independent variables. Social support is a relatively new theoretical perspective, so consensus does not yet exist on how best to measure its central concept (Chouey, 2019; Worrall, 2005). We believe that social support at the country level is reasonably measured with IHDI—an index that taps multiple dimensions of support including support of long and healthy life, support of knowledge, and support of a decent standard of living.…”

“…While Cullen argued that this idea was implicit in other theories of crime, such as those that focus on the ill-effects of relative and absolute deprivation, those theories nonetheless emphasize the negative aspects of human relations, such as restraint, control, and oppression. 3 In contrast, social support theory draws upon a more positive view of humans and societies, placing the power of human affection front and center (Chouey, 2019, for a recent review). In brief, Cullen (1994) contended that social support, which exists at micro and macro levels, directly diminishes individual criminal involvement, victimization, and rates of crime and victimization across ecological units.…”

The Association between Physical Fighting and Victimisation by Traditional Bullying and Cyberbullying among Adolescents in 27 European Countries: The Moderating Effects of Perceived Social Support and Public Education Spending

“…Previous studies also suggest that high perception of teacher social support decreases the frequency and intensity of school physical violence (i.e., decreased rates of adolescents' involvement in physical fights) and reduces the risk of bullying victimisation [62][63][64]. It is possible that teachers who possess the necessary knowledge, confidence, adequate skills and negative attitudes towards school violence and bullying (i.e., actively stand against aggression), are more likely to appropriately intervene [65][66][67][68]. Teacher support through direct intervention (such as teachers' actions, including stopping aggression, protecting the victims, punishing and holding the aggressors accountable) leads to decreased rates of physical fighting and reduced risks of bullying victimisation [69][70][71].…”

Social support and prosocial behavior in Chinese college students during the COVID-19 outbreak: a moderated mediation model of positive affect and parental care

“…Social support theory highlights the prosocial facets of human relationships and the support provided by an individual’s social environment. It expands beyond the individuals to their families, and communities, and aims to think of alternative social security-building policies ( Chouhy, 2019 ). People with greater social capital (i.e., resources and benefits gained from relationships, experiences, and social interactions) may be more likely to be prosocial bystanders ( Jenkins and Fredrick, 2017 ).…”