Neighborhood Context, Street Efficacy, and Fear of Violent Victimization

AuthorBeidi Dong,Yue Yuan,Chris Melde
DOI10.1177/1541204015620283
Date01 April 2017
Published date01 April 2017
Subject MatterArticles
YVJ620283 119..137 Article
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
2017, Vol. 15(2) 119-137
Neighborhood Context,
ª The Author(s) 2015
Reprints and permission:
Street Efficacy, and Fear
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DOI: 10.1177/1541204015620283
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of Violent Victimization
Yue Yuan1, Beidi Dong2, and Chris Melde3
Abstract
Drawing on Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, the current study investigates the relationship between
individuals’ perceived self-efficacy of avoiding unsafe situations and fear of violence in a neighbor-
hood context. Specifically, it is hypothesized that adolescents who report higher levels of street
efficacy are less likely to exhibit fear of violence than adolescents who report lower levels of street
efficacy. Using panel data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, the
authors estimate a series of multilevel ordinal logistic regression models to explain the relationship
between street efficacy and fear of violence controlling for both individual-level and neighborhood-
level covariates. The results confirm the hypothesis that adolescents’ prior street efficacy is nega-
tively associated with subsequent fear of violence. The current study suggests that a social cognitive
perspective should be incorporated into the fear of crime literature. Policy implications of the
findings are discussed, along with suggestions for future research.
Keywords
fear of crime, victimization, self-efficacy, violence
Introduction
Research indicates that individuals who report heightened fear of crime are more likely to engage in
defensive and avoidance behaviors than individuals who exhibit little fear (DuBow, McCabe, &
Kaplan, 1979; Ferraro, 1995; Garofalo, 1981; Hindelang, Gottfredson, & Garofalo, 1978; Liska,
Sanchirico, & Reed, 1988; Skogan & Maxfield, 1981), and these actions lead to lower levels of
involvement in violent incidents (Melde, Berg, & Esbensen, 2014). Fear, in this way, plays an
important role in promoting self-protection (Jackson & Gray, 2010). The benefits of fear of crime,
however, must be weighed against the potential consequences incurred by those prone to heightened
states of fear, including reduced quality of life and the potential for associated mental health issues
1 Department of Criminal Justice, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA
2 Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
3 School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, Baker Hall, East Lansing, MI, USA
Corresponding Author:
Yue Yuan, Department of Criminal Justice, Indiana University Bloomington, Sycamore Hall 302, Boomington, IN 47405, USA.
Email: yueyuan@indiana.edu

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Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 15(2)
(e.g., anxiety disorders; Stafford, Chandola, & Marmot, 2007). This dynamic, therefore, suggests
that research should seek to identify ways in which fear of crime can be reduced without an asso-
ciated increase in the probability of experiencing victimization.
A leading explanation of the factors associated with fear of crime is the vulnerability thesis,
which suggests that fear is mainly determined by the subjective determination of victimization
potential, which is the product of one’s physical characteristics (e.g., size and strength), local con-
ditions (e.g., community disorder), and social environment (e.g., peers and lifestyle). We draw on
self-efficacy theory in the current investigation to further explicate the mechanisms through which
the vulnerability thesis influences fear of crime. In particular, we elaborate on the theoretical con-
nections between street efficacy, as described by Sharkey (2006), and Bandura’s (1977) notion of
self-efficacy, and how these constructs impact fear of violence. Specifically, Bandura (1977,
p. 209) theorized about the relation between constrained behaviors and fear from a social learning
perspective. Bandura (1977) suggested that fear and avoidance behaviors are consequences of
‘‘aversive experiences,’’ and there is no fixed relationship between the two theoretical constructs.
Rather, threatening situations will lead to increased levels of fear and corresponding behavioral
changes unless individuals feel capable of carrying out ‘‘effective coping behaviors.’’ According
to Bandura, individuals have to develop effective coping strategies in order to remain relatively
‘‘fearless’’ in what some may view as potentially dangerous circumstances. Only when people
understand how to effectively protect themselves in ways that do not impair their quality of life,
whether through behavioral modifications or the use of community resources, can we reduce fear
and the likelihood of victimization.
To date, empirical studies have not tested whether individuals who believe they can successfully
avoid violence, even in otherwise dangerous neighborhoods, are less prone to fear of crime than indi-
viduals with less confidence in their ability to avoid danger. To address this gap in the literature, we
use a sample from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) to
examine whether adolescents’ perceived self-efficacy, what Sharkey (2006) conceptualized as street
efficacy, reduces subsequent fear of neighborhood violence. Understanding the degree to which
street efficacy can reduce fear of violence will provide researchers and practitioners with much
needed information on how evidence-based victimization reduction programs can produce enduring
positive effects beyond those directly related to victimization reduction, by increasing quality of life
and reducing longer term mental and physical health consequences associated with persistent fear
(Stafford et al., 2007). In the following sections, we apply a social cognitive perspective, which
emphasizes the interrelationships between cognition, emotion, and behavior to understand adoles-
cents’ fear of violence in the neighborhood context.
Self-Efficacy and Fear
Bandura (1977) outlined a theoretical framework, in which the concept of self-efficacy plays a cen-
tral role in determining the direction and magnitude of the effect of avoidance behaviors on fear of
victimization. Importantly, according to this framework, it is one’s perceived capability to control
one’s fate in particular situations that impact emotional well-being and behavior. As Ozer and
Bandura (1990, p. 472) stated, ‘‘perceived self-efficacy is concerned with people’s beliefs in their
capabilities to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action needed to exercise
control over given events’’. Accordingly, threat is not an objective reality but rather is subjectively
determined such that individuals naturally evaluate ‘‘the match between perceived coping capabil-
ities and potentially hurtful aspects of the environment’’ (p. 473). People experience elevated levels
of fear and tend to avoid particular behaviors (e.g., use of public transit and exercising) when they
believe that they are incapable of managing associated threatening situations (e.g., being robbed and

Yuan et al.
121
raped), whereas they involve themselves in activities when they judge themselves as capable of
exercising control over potential threats.
Bandura (1977) further emphasized that emotional arousal is one of the major sources of infor-
mation for perceived self-efficacy, and self-efficacy also affects emotional arousal in a reciprocal
manner. Stressful situations elicit emotional arousal that has informative value concerning personal
competency, and over time people prone to fear tend to feel less confident in their ability to control
situations, leading to avoidance behaviors (Lerner & Keltner, 2001). On the contrary, if individuals
are self-confident and willing to engage in coping behaviors when facing threatening situations, their
self-efficacy gets reinforced and fear is dampened (Bandura, Adams, & Beyer, 1977). Additionally,
Williams (1995) argued that the reciprocal relationship between emotion and self-efficacy is asym-
metrical, ‘‘with self-efficacy exercising greater influence on emotion than emotion on self-efficacy’’
(p. 91), as persons with higher self-efficacy are less likely to be fearful of new and uncertain situa-
tions. Because of this proposed asymmetrical relationship between self-efficacy and emotional arou-
sal, we focus on the effects of self-efficacy on fear of violence in this study.
Bandura and others (Averill, 1973; Bandura, 1977, 1986; Ozer & Bandura, 1990) specified two
major mechanisms, whereby enhanced self-efficacy attenuates or eliminates fear arousal in threaten-
ing situations. First, perceived coping efficacy operates as a mediator of anxiety or fear arousal. Per-
ceived coping ability influences individual judgment of one’s own vulnerability and surrounding
risk, whereby a lack of confidence in one’s coping ability increases emotional arousal. For instance,
a potentially threatening situation is conceived as relatively safe by people who believe in their cop-
ing efficacy but as dangerous by individuals who generally believe situations are beyond their con-
trol. Second, self-efficacy helps to regulate individual cognitive processes (Bandura, 1989). People
who believe in their own ability to control situations will find it easier to dismiss negative thoughts
and thus continue to mobilize resources and efforts in threatening situations. The reverse is also true,
as Kent and colleagues (Kent, 1987; Kent & Gibbons, 1987) suggested that the strength of perceived
self-inefficacy, or the inability to control one’s...

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