racial/ethnic variation in the relationship between physical limitation and fear of crime: an examination of mediating and moderating factors

Abstract

This study has four objectives. First, we confirm the previously observed association between physical limitations and fear of crime. Second, we assess the role of age in this relationship. Third, we identify factors that mediate this relationship. Fourth, we assess whether this relationship is observed across racial/ethnic groups. Adjusting for perceptions of personal control and disability-related stigma reduces the magnitude of this relationship to non-significance for black and white respondents, but not for Hispanics. Also, we find that age is inversely related to fear of crime for blacks and whites.

This research is supported by grants RO1 DA13292 and RO1 DA016429 from the National Institute of Drug Abuse to R. Jay Turner.

Notes

^aDenotes a significant difference across activity limitation categories.

^bDenotes a significant difference within activity limitation categories.

OLS Unstandardized Regression Coefficients.

∗p < .05, ∗∗p < .01, ∗∗∗p < .001.

^a Interaction terms for Hispanic by activity limitations and African American by activity limitations, respectively.

OLS Unstandardized Regression Coefficients.

∗p < .05, ∗∗p < .01, ∗∗∗p < .001.

OLS Unstandardized Regression Coefficients.

∗p < .05, ∗∗p < .01, ∗∗∗p < .001.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John Taylor

John Taylor is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and the Center for Demography and Population Health at Florida State University. His research focuses on the social factors that underlie status variation in health and well-being.

David Eitle

David Eitle is an Associate Professor of sociology at Montana State University. His research interests include exploring the nexus between racial and economic stratification, crime, and its social control, institutional and community factors associated with school disorder and violence, and the etiology of criminal and deviant behavior among late adolescents and young adults.

David Russell

David Russell is an NIMH Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers University. His current research focuses on social status differences in stress exposure and mental health across the life course, including an examination of the influence of living alone on depression and loneliness in older adults.