Does heightened fear of crime lead to poorer mental health in new suburbs, or vice versa?

Sarah Foster; Paula Hooper; Matthew Knuiman; Billie Giles-Corti

Journal article

Does heightened fear of crime lead to poorer mental health in new suburbs, or vice versa?

Sarah Foster, Paula Hooper, Matthew Knuiman, Billie Giles-Corti

SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE | PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD | Published : 2016

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.09.004

Abstract

Fear of crime is implicated as a risk factor for poorer mental health, yet few studies have explored whether there is a causal relationship between fear of crime and health, or tested the direction of the relationship. Does, for example, heightened fear of crime lead to poorer mental health, or could poorer mental health exacerbate fear of crime? RESIDE participants in Perth, Australia, completed a questionnaire three years after moving to their neighbourhood (2007-2008, n = 1230), and again four years later (2011-2012, n = 531). The impact of fear of crime on psychological distress (Kessler-6) was examined in SAS using the Proc Mixed procedure (marginal repeated measures model with unrestri..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Billie Giles-Corti Author Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

Related Projects (1)

EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN URBAN PLANNING AND HEALTH AND THE APPLICATION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS TO IMPROVE THE HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF AUSTRALIANS BY CREATING MORE HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES.

Globally there is growing concern about the health, social, environmental, and economic impacts of rising levels of inactivity and obesity, ..

Grants

Awarded by Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation (Healthway)

Awarded by Australian Research Council (ARC)

Awarded by National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Capacity Building Grant

Awarded by ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award

Awarded by NHMRC CRE in Healthy Liveable Communities postdoctoral fellowship

Awarded by NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship

Awarded by Healthway

Funding Acknowledgements

RESIDE was funded by grants from the Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation (Healthway) (#11828), the Australian Research Council (ARC) (#LP0455453) and supported by a National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Capacity Building Grant (#458688). SF is supported by an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (#DE160100140), PH by a NHMRC CRE in Healthy Liveable Communities postdoctoral fellowship (#1061404), and BGC by a NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship (#1004900).