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Territorial functioning and fear of crime: Testing for mediation in structural equation modeling

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Abstract

The influence of territorial functioning (TF) in reducing crime and fear has found broad empirical support, but its multivariate predictive relationships have not been uniformly validated to date. This study aims to examine a model that explains the direct and indirect influences of TF, disorder and victimization on fear of crime in a residential neighborhood with a high crime rate. The study used a quantitative-based method using a questionnaire survey and on-site observations. A total of 217 households from a council estate in Sheffield were interviewed for this study using a systematic sampling method. Structural equation modeling analyses indicate that TF has a negative impact on disorder, victimization and perceived risk. In line with the incivilities thesis, the results indicate that disorder positively influences both victimization and fear of crime. Perceived risk has a mediating role in the relationship between TF and fear of crime. This leads to the conclusion that TF can shape fear of crime through perceptions of risk.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) for providing financial support for this study. The author would also like to thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their excellent and constructive comments that have improved the quality of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800, Malaysia

    Aldrin Abdullah, Massoomeh Hedayati Marzbali, Azizi Bahauddin & Mohammad J Maghsoodi Tilaki

  2. School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800, Malaysia

    T Ramayah

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  1. Aldrin Abdullah
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  3. T Ramayah
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  5. Mohammad J Maghsoodi Tilaki
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Correspondence to Aldrin Abdullah.

Appendices

Appendix A

Table A1

Table A1 The list of constructs and corresponding items
Full size table

Appendix B

An explanation of the equivalent models

Kline (2011) has noted that there are probably equivalent versions for a given structural model. Equivalent models should have equal values of fit statistics, including χ2 and df and all appropriate fit indexes (Kline, 2011). Figure B1 presents four equivalent models that cannot be distinguished based on fit statistics or other diagnostic measures (see Kline, 2011). As shown in Figure B1, tests for equivalent models were conducted showing that the four models are equivalent because of equal values of χ2=86.086, relative/normed χ2/df=1.226, GFI=0.949, CFI=0.982, TLI=0.976 and RMSEA=0.035. Therefore, the distinctions between the models are artificial, and as the data are cross-sectional, this only indicates a correlation.

Figure B1
figure 2figure 2

Four equivalent structural models. (a) Original model; (b) Equivalent Model 1; (c) Equivalent Model 2; (d) Equivalent Model 3.

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Figures B1(a) and B1(b) show uni-directional relationship between Territorial functioning and Disorder. However, it should be noted that it is not possible for a non-recursive relationship to exist between two exogenous variables (for example, TF). For non-recursive relationships to exist as shown in Figure B1 (d), the (possible) directions should be changed to make exogenous variables endogenous (see Kline, 2011, p. 227). Therefore, we changed causation to correlation when describing the relationship between TF and disorder, as we used the Equivalent Model 2 (please refer to Figure B1 (c)). However, Kline (2011) suggested that some equivalent versions may be implausible because of the nature of the variables or the data. We believe that additional longitudinal data are needed to discern the direction of the effects.

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Abdullah, A., Hedayati Marzbali, M., Ramayah, T. et al. Territorial functioning and fear of crime: Testing for mediation in structural equation modeling. Secur J 29, 461–484 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/sj.2013.40

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