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Background: A significant body of literature has examined the impact of verbal and non‐verbal bullying in surgical settings, where a central focus has been on the experiences of trainee and junior members of the surgical team, women in surgery and other health professionals, such as nurses. Research on how surgeons' perceive or experience bullying is more limited. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the views of surgeons on negative and disrespectful verbal and non‐verbal behaviour and bullying in surgical settings, including its impact on surgeons themselves and the surgical staff they oversee. Methods: Semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with surgeons between February and November 2019. Questions explored surgeons' perceptions of interpersonal communication and behaviour in their surgical workplaces in the preceding 6‐months. A narrative analysis approach was used to code, interpret, and report the interview data. Results: Thirty‐one interviews were conducted with surgeons (19 male and 12 female), from Australia (26) and Aotearoa New Zealand (5) from 10 surgical specialties. Three themes were identified with associated subthemes: bullying (five subthemes), non‐verbal bullying (seven subthemes), and impact and outcomes of bullying (six subthemes). Conclusion: This study revealed a notable shift in the reported verbal and non‐verbal bullying behaviour among surgeons, demonstrating a decrease in intensity, physicality and violence for the 6‐months prior to interviews conducted in 2019, when compared with surgeons' historic experiences. Despite reported behaviour being more subtle and indirect, it nonetheless continues to have a marked impact on many surgeons as well as the staff they oversee. This study investigated the perspectives of surgeons on disrespectful behaviour and bullying in surgical settings. Thirty‐one interviews with surgeons from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand were conducted, revealing three themes: verbal bullying, non‐verbal bullying, and the impact and outcomes of bullying. Despite becoming more subtle and indirect, bullying continues to significantly impact surgeons and the staff they oversee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prevalence of childhood obesity is higher in economically and socially deprived areas. Higher levels of physical activity reduce the risk of excessive weight gain in youth, and research has focused on environmental factors associated with children's physical activity, though the term "physical activity desert" has not come into wide use. Methods: This exploratory study operationalized the term "physical activity desert" and tested the hypothesis that children living in physical activity deserts would be less physically active than children who do not. A cross-sectional study design was applied with 992 fifth-grade students who had provided objectively measured physical activity data. Five of 12 possible elements of the built environment were selected as descriptors of physical activity deserts, including no commercial facilities, no parks, low play spaces, no cohesion, and the presence of incivilities. Results: Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that only the absence of parks was associated with less physical activity in children. Conclusion: Children living in a "no park" zone were less active than their counterparts who lived near a park. This study contributes preliminary conceptual and operational definitions of "physical activity desert." Future studies of physical activity deserts should be undertaken in larger and more diverse samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For public spaces to be both accessible and hospitable, the provision of good quality public toilets is essential. This is particularly true for women as well as more specific groups, including older adults, people with health conditions or impairments, and those experiencing homelessness. Despite their importance, public toilets commonly conjure notions of dirtiness and nuisance, or of spaces used for purposes for which they were not intended, such as drug use, sexual encounters or shelter. Public toilets, therefore, reflect the complexity of shared public spaces. With a focus on Brussels, relevant authorities and organisations were interviewed, and on-site observations were carried out to explore the importance of public toilets for public spaces. The article is attentive to the nuisances linked to public toilets, and the difficulties in generating effective responses to their so-called misuse.

For public spaces to be both accessible and hospitable, the provision of good quality public toilets is essential. This is particularly true for women as well as more specific groups, including older adults, people with health conditions or impairments, and those experiencing homelessness. Despite their importance, public toilets commonly conjure notions of dirtiness and nuisance, or of spaces used for purposes for which they were not intended, such as drug use, sexual encounters or shelter. Public toilets, therefore, reflect the complexity of shared public spaces. With a focus on Brussels, relevant authorities and organisations were interviewed, and on-site observations were carried out to explore the importance of public toilets for public spaces. The article is attentive to the nuisances linked to public toilets, and the difficulties in generating effective responses to their so-called misuse.

For public spaces to be both accessible and hospitable, the provision of good quality public toilets is essential. This is particularly true for women as well as more specific groups, including older adults, people with health conditions or impairments, and those experiencing homelessness. Despite their importance, public toilets commonly conjure notions of dirtiness and nuisance, or of spaces used for purposes for which they were not intended, such as drug use, sexual encounters or shelter. Public toilets, therefore, reflect the complexity of shared public spaces. With a focus on Brussels, relevant authorities and organisations were interviewed, and on-site observations were carried out to explore the importance of public toilets for public spaces. The article is attentive to the nuisances linked to public toilets, and the difficulties in generating effective responses to their so-called misuse.

The objective of the study is to analyze how incivilities and social disorder are a principle that helps explain the increase in drug dealing and homicidal violence in the municipality of Tijuana. As it is a topic little addressed, the methodology is exploratory and explanatory and takes as a reference the theory of incivilities and social disorder. The results show that drug dealing and homicidal violence have increased along with urban decay and apathy on the part of municipal authorities to face the problem, leaving aside city management, co-responsibility and social cohesion as an essential strategy to deal with crime. For this reason, the contributions of the study are useful for the design of public policies in the fight against crime and crime prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this brief report, neighborhood tenure mixing is defined as the proportion of owner-occupied versus renter-occupied properties in a neighborhood. The current study examined the association between the proportion of neighborhood tenure mixing, neighborhood crime, and the physical conditions of the neighborhood environment (i.e., incivilities, territoriality, and built environment). Fourteen trained raters (i.e., 7 dyads) used the Revised Block Environmental Inventory to document the physical conditions of one owner-dominated, one renter-dominated, and one mixed neighborhood. Our findings suggest that the highest levels of built environments and territoriality were displayed in neighborhoods where the ownership occupation was between 30 to 50%. Implications for future studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although urban disorder has played a central role in neighborhood research, its impact may have been overstated in studies relying on the subjective perception of survey respondents only. Research on the "perception bias"—defined as the divergence between respondents' subjective assessments and systematic observations of disorder—has revealed the ambiguous nature of disorder and opened a door to the analysis of the social construction of this environmental cognition. Using survey and observational data from 140 small neighborhoods in two German cities, we advance this research by focusing on the moderating role of residents' interethnic contacts and attitudes. The results show that the effects of neighborhood minority concentration on the perception bias are conditional on the residents' interethnic contacts and xenophobic attitudes. These findings highlight the subjectivity of disorder perceptions and caution against a naive understanding of Broken Windows theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of organisation in urban spaces plays a decisive role in the level of integration, communication and social bonds of the residents, impacting the citizens' feelings of trust and security. Different personal variables and contextual characteristics have been associated with the fear of crime (FOC). The main objective of this study is to analyse how individual and social/environmental variables, and incivilities, predict crime against people and property, crime that has either happened or is feared to happen. Five hundred and fifty-four residents (M = 43.82; SD = 18.38) in the Historic Centre of Porto (HCP), Portugal, answered 61 items of the Diagnosis of Local Security (DLS) Questionnaire. The results of this study show that in the most frequent crime category, 72% of occurrences represent crime against property. In the feared crime category, there is a preponderance of crime against people (61%). Age of the respondents predicted the most frequent and feared crime, while sex predicted the most feared crime only. Social/environmental variables, as well as incivilities, also predict the frequent and feared crime in two typologies, i.e., crime against people and crime against property. Practical implications to reduce FOC and areas for further investigation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The city of Philadelphia has long been criticized for the amount of litter strewn about its streets. To more fully understand this problem, a recent city initiative, the Clean PHL program, sent out individuals to rate the amount of litter on more than 28,000 blocks across the city. We used multilevel models to analyze these data to identify both address-level and block group–level correlates of increased litter ratings. The results show that being on an arterial or collector street, the late summer and early fall seasons, and exposure to food-serving businesses and vacant properties are linked with the odds of increased litter, whereas proximity to a park is linked with decreased litter. We also found that increased block group–level disadvantage is directly related to increased litter and serves to moderate the relationships between some address-level predictors and litter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining the harmful effects of some existing governance approaches to urban space and various types of resistance to them, we outline a new framework to develop and evaluate security approaches in the city – in particular, towards ‘incivilities’. This framework relies on the redefinition of security, which we extended far beyond the realm of crime to include social security and concerns around vulnerability, sustainability, inclusion and so on, and takes into account the critique of existing governance measures. Simultaneously, it relies on the rethinking of ‘incivilities’, which involves shifting the focus away from behaviour deemed ‘anti-social’ to the actions or inactions of those who decide what ‘anti-social’ is in the first place, and their harmful consequences. The framework we propose – that takes into account harms, people’s broader sensitivities around public space and pro-social alternatives to current security approaches – should hopefully contribute to a more just and legitimate urban security governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Der vorliegende Beitrag widmet sich dem Einfluss der sozialen Kohäsion der Nachbarschaft auf das subjektive Sicherheitsgefühl und pandemiebezogene Zukunftsängste während der ersten Welle der COVID-19-Pandemie in Deutschland. Anhand von Befragungsdaten von 1 194 Hamburger*innen zeigt sich, dass Angehörige einer Risikogruppe für einen schweren COVID-19-Verlauf in der Pandemie besonders vom sozialen Kapital ihrer Nachbarschaften profitieren können. Die Wahrnehmung von ,Incivilities‘ und von der Kriminalitätsentwicklung wirken sich nur in sehr geringem Umfang auf das Sicherheitsgefühl aus.

Auf Basis einer repräsentativen Umfrage aus 2019 zur Sicherheitslage in der Stadt Pforzheim werden kognitive, affektive und konative Indikatoren von Kriminalitätsfurcht (KF) sowie andere sicherheitsrelevante Merkmale untersucht mit dem Ziel, eine psychologische Landkarte dieser Variablen zu erstellen. Zudem soll die Einstellung zu Sicherheitsproblemen durch persönliche Werte erklärt werden. Alle Items zur KF, zu Sicherheitsproblemen, zum Sozialkapital, zur Viktimisierung und zur Lebensqualität korrelieren nicht-negativ untereinander. Dies verweist auf ein gemeinsames Einstellungsobjekt, wobei die KF-Indikatoren eine zentrale Stellung einnehmen. Personen mit einer Werteorientierung in Richtung Bewahrung/Erhalt zeigen eine relativ große KF und sehen tendenziell größere Sicherheitsprobleme.

The lack of organisation in urban spaces plays a decisive role in the level of integration, communication and social bonds of the residents, impacting the citizens’ feelings of trust and security. Different personal variables and contextual characteristics have been associated with the fear of crime (FOC). The main objective of this study is to analyse how individual and social/environmental variables, and incivilities, predict crime against people and property, crime that has either happened or is feared to happen. Five hundred and fifty-four residents (M = 43.82; SD = 18.38) in the Historic Centre of Porto (HCP), Portugal, answered 61 items of the Diagnosis of Local Security (DLS) Questionnaire. The results of this study show that in the most frequent crime category, 72% of occurrences represent crime against property. In the feared crime category, there is a preponderance of crime against people (61%). Age of the respondents predicted the most frequent and feared crime, while sex predicted the most feared crime only. Social/environmental variables, as well as incivilities, also predict the frequent and feared crime in two typologies, i.e., crime against people and crime against property. Practical implications to reduce FOC and areas for further investigation are discussed.

Background: Path quality has not been well studied as a correlate of active transport to school. We hypothesize that for urban-dwelling children the environment between home and school is at least as important as the environment immediately surrounding their homes and/or schools when exploring walking to school behavior. Methods: Tools from spatial statistics and geographic information systems (GIS) were applied to an assessment of street blocks to create a walking path quality measure based on physical and social disorder (termed "incivilities") for each child. Path quality was included in a multivariate regression analysis of walking to school status for a sample of 362 children. Results: The odds of walking to school for path quality was 0.88 (95% CI: 0.72-1.07), which although not statistically significant is in the direction supporting our hypothesis. The odds of walking to school for home street block incivility suggests the counter intuitive effect (OR = 1.10, 95% CI: 1.08-1.19). Conclusions: Results suggest that urban children living in communities characterized by higher incivilities are more likely to walk to school, potentially placing them at risk for adverse health outcomes because of exposure to high incivility areas along their route. Results also support the importance of including path quality when exploring the influence of the environment on walking to school behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into school cafeterias has largely focused on the nutritional content of food and what students consume. However, the cafeteria is also an important setting for understanding and promoting the overall well-being of students. Through 17 group interviews with 96 students, we conducted an open-ended exploration of their perspectives on the environment in which they eat. The interviews highlight a variety of stressors present in the cafeteria setting, including crowding, volume, and frequent adverse social interactions. We use the framework of proxemics and the concept of incivilities to reflect on students' experience of the social and built environment of the cafeteria, suggesting that a more positive lunch experience would offer a better balance of stimulation and privacy for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sozial Extra is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objectives The objective of this study was to determine the impact of a cognitive rehearsal intervention on nursing students' self-efficacy to respond effectively to disruptive behaviors. Design This quantitative study was part of a longitudinal, quasi-experimental program of research. Setting Interventions were conducted on site at facilities provided by participating pre-licensure nursing programs. Participants A total of 129 nursing students enrolled in their final academic year in three traditional format, pre-licensure nursing programs in the Midwestern United States were recruited to participate in this study. Methods A cognitive rehearsal intervention was delivered to increase self-efficacy to respond to disruptive behaviors in the nursing workplace. Data were collected in writing immediately prior to and following the intervention. Three months later, data were collected in electronic format through a link sent by text message to their mobile phones. Study data were collected on the Self-efficacy to Respond to Disruptive Behaviors Survey, a 10-point Likert scale measuring self-efficacy and its dimensions: knowledge, previous behavioral engagement, affect, and motivation toward responding effectively to disruptive behaviors. Results 129 students completed the surveys at pre and post-test; 109 completed the survey three months later. Measures of overall self-efficacy and knowledge ( p  < 0.000), and both measures of situational self-efficacy ( p  = 0.002; p  = 0.020) remained significantly increased three months after the intervention, compared to pre-test. Past behaviors increased on post-test but returned to baseline at the three-month follow-up. The intervention did not significantly impact affect scores. Changes in motivation toward effective responses were mixed between measurements immediately following the intervention and three months later. Conclusion Cognitive rehearsal interventions can increase self-efficacy to respond to disruptive behaviors with sustained effects up to three months later. Further research is needed to determine the effects of self-efficacy to respond once participants have entered the nursing workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on post-World War II housing estates have largely focused on problematic neighbourhoods, and there is a scarcity of literature on housing estates across their entire social scale. Moreover, there is insufficient evidence on the extent to which tenure structure differentiates estates from each other in terms of social disorder. Using a large cluster sample of Finnish estates representing a wide variety of estate neighbourhoods, we examined the implications of tenure structure in terms of social disadvantage and perceived social disorder. We also studied how social interaction and normative regulation mediate the impact of structural estate characteristics. We found that rental domination is associated with social disadvantage, which exposes residents to social disorder, in line with social disorganisation theory. Differences in normative regulation partly explain this association. In contrast, social interaction in the neighbourhood is not associated with the level of perceived social disorder. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study builds on existing research from US cities on the construct and discriminant validity of perceptual measures of crime and disorder. It seeks to determine whether citizens distinguish between crime and disorder. Methods: This study draws on quantitative and qualitative data from a high-crime community in Trinidad and Tobago, a small-island developing nation in the eastern Caribbean. Analysis of the quantitative data relies on exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis methods designed for use with categorical observed variables and continuous latent variables. Results: In contrast to previous research, we find that citizens do distinguish between physical disorder and general crime, but there is a perceptual overlap for some drug-related offenses and types of social disorder. Conclusions: This study raises questions about the external validity of research on the relationship between perceptions of crime and disorder conducted in the US, and contributes to ongoing discussions and debates about the meaning of disorder. The findings suggest the need for theory and research to explain how context shapes not only the magnitudes of these perceptions, but also their structures. The results also demonstrate the benefits of mixed-methods research approaches in this area of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although controlling risk has become a prevalent theme in contemporary penal development in the main English-speaking societies, the range and extent of these measures is limited and specific, indicative of new obligations and reciprocities between state and citizen following post-1980s restructuring. Individuals are exhorted to take care of themselves, but the state remains committed to managing risks thought beyond their control and likely to cause irreparable harm through innovative penal measures. The paper explains how these have coalesced around risks to community cohesion and sexual attacks on women and children; and how these measures have then been legitimated, given that they contravene previous long-standing rules, principles and conventions intended to prohibit or restrict their use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship between community concerns (i.e., perceived crime, incivilities, and infrastructure) and fear of crime (FOC) while examining the mediating role of risk of victimisation and pragmatic fear. Gender and ethnic differences were also explored. Data were collected using a proportionate multistage random sample of 3,003 participants from a southern Caribbean island in 2015. The following self-reported measures were used: risk of victimisation and FOC scales, a general (noncrime) fear scale measuring pragmatic fear, and a community concern scale. Data were analysed using path analysis, Sobel tests, and multiple group analysis. Findings revealed that perceived crime and incivilities significantly predicted FOC, whereas infrastructure was insignificant as a direct predictor. Females had higher FOC, and among ethnic groups, Indo-Trinidadians had the highest FOC than Afro-Trinidadians and Mixed participants. Risk of victimisation and pragmatic fear had significant mediating effects on community concerns and FOC. Findings are discussed in the context of the social psychology of social disorganisation and previous research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives (1) To determine whether perceived physical and social incivilities are distinguishable at the individual and/or neighborhood levels and, if so, whether there are differences in effects on fear of crime. (2) To identify, characterize, and account for differential item functioning (DIF) to understand differences in subjective perceptions of incivilities across demographic groups. Methods This study uses data from a probability sample of 1622 residents nested within 66 ecologically valid neighborhoods and employs multilevel SEM to identify factor structure, assess DIF, and examine structural relations at individual and neighborhood levels. Results Physical and social incivilities are distinguishable at the individual level but not at the neighborhood level. Three physical incivilities items exhibit DIF for race and three social incivilities items exhibit DIF for age. Residents in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of African Americans report greater levels of combined incivilities, but, within neighborhoods, African Americans perceive lower levels of physical and social incivility. Within neighborhoods, social incivilities link to fear of crime. Conclusions Demographic factors affect how individuals use response categories for gauging perceived incivilities in their locale. Discriminability of underlying separate physical and social components only at the individual level points to needed areas of theoretical elaboration in incivilities models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Despite a large number of studies testing Broken Windows Theory (BWT), the reverse theoretical pathway has never been assessed longitudinally (risk perceptions → incivilities perceptions). It is estimated here using panel data from Baltimore, Maryland. Results show lagged, multilevel impacts of risk perceptions on shifting incivilities perceptions. Furthermore, impacts of risk perceptions on later shifts in perceived incivilities vary significantly across streetblocks. Findings support Harcourt’s assertion that “disorder” is not a fixed and unambiguous label; rather, it is dependent on a person defining his or her surroundings. People who report a high degree of crime risk are “biased” toward defining neighborhood features as more problematic than those who do not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an in-depth study of the Act on Municipal Administrative Sanctions 1999 (MAS), which is the first major piece of legislation regulating antisocial behaviour in Belgium. MAS provides municipalities with an instrument to sanction antisocial behaviour and conduct perceived to disturb public order. The article uses Garland's (2001) thesis on the culture of control to analyse whether MAS has led to increased government control and the exclusion of significant groups of the population. The research is based on a multiple case study in which the application of MAS was analysed over a 25-year period of security policies in Belgium (1985-2010). The Act's implementation was studied in the two Belgian cities of Antwerp and Liège in order to consider the influence of the Flemish government and the Walloon government, respectively, in this policy area. The article uses insights from this comparison to revisit the culture of control thesis and its limitations in understanding the political competition that exists over the formulation of policies on antisocial behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student incivilities such as challenging, dissent, and excuse making have been examined by a variety of disciplines. However, the more encompassing idea of student misbehaviors has been somewhat understudied within instructional communication. The current study inductively arrived at a set of 12 distinct college student misbehaviors identified by collegiate instructors, which are relevant to the contemporary college classroom. When examined through the lens of instructional communication and student development frameworks, the researchers concluded that mindfulness of these misbehaviors might afford instructors the ability to enhance student success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its introduction in the early 1990s in Brussels, open-street CCTV has grown both in scope and in its purpose. The camera network of the Belgian capital city has undergone successive waves of extension, gradually gaining ground both physically and ideologically. In this article, we propose to investigate the geographical extension and distribution of open-street cameras in Brussels, as well as the underlying policies and rationale. We have produced a detailed map of the spatial distribution of open-street cameras at the scale of the city region. In addition to a spatial analysis, a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with public authorities and local police. The CCTV network in Brussels is entangled in a context of global city competition and the neoliberal governance of insecurity, which prompted us to consider the uptake of video surveillance in light of the local political economy.

This paper discusses and explains a new penal phenomenon in the main Anglophone societies – the rise of the security sanction. Rather than reacting to crime, its purpose is to protect public safety by reducing the risk of future crime. It can be applied to both the most serious offenders and those who have not committed any crime. It can involve extended/prolonged terms of imprisonment and it can involve extensive restrictions on movement in public space. Its emergence can be explained by the post-1980s political, economic and social restructuring of these societies and the attendant uncaging of risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Latinoamericana de Metodología de las Ciencias Sociales is the property of Universidad Nacional de La Plata and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper isolates litter as a physical incivility in a film-based experiment, demonstrating the impact of litter on participants' anticipation of a wide range of both physical and social incivilities, and on their perceptions of crime prevalence. Such relationships have not previously been examined, partly because litter has rarely been the focus of earlier studies on incivilities. This paper also tests for possible interaction effects in these relationships involving gender (finding no significant interaction), as well as examining whether there is a difference in the anticipation of incivilities and perceptions of crime prevalence between participants exposed to branded as opposed to unbranded litter (finding no difference between the two groups). Litter is often viewed as a tolerable nuisance and not always treated as a priority. This study suggests prioritising funds towards more targeted interventions to reduce litter might result in some ‘quick wins’ – most notably, reducing perceptions of crime prevalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Retos: Nuevas Perspectivas de Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación is the property of Federacion Espanola de Asociaciones de Docentes de Educacion Fisica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: Neighborhood disadvantage (ND), incivilities, and crime disproportionately impact minority women, discouraging physical activity (PA). Social support (SS) is a cultural tool promoting PA in minority women. Socially supportive environments may promote PA in disadvantaged neighborhoods, yet few studies have investigated the mediating role of social support among minority women. This study examined SS as a mediator among ND, incivilities, crime, and PA. Methods: The Health Is Power study aimed to increase PA in African American and Hispanic Latina women (N = 410) in Houston and Austin, TX. ND and crime data were taken from the National Neighborhood Crime Study. Incivilities were measured using the Pedestrian Environment Data Scan (PEDS). SS was measured using the Family and Friend Support for Exercise Habits scale and physical activity was measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Linear regression analysis was used to examine SS as a mediator following the Baron and Kenny method. Results: ND was negatively associated with PA and SS. SS was not a mediator as it was not significantly associated with ND, crime, and incivilities (F(3,264) = 2.02, p > .05) or PA (F(1,266) = 3.8 p = .052). Conclusion: ND significantly discourages PA and limits SS. Future research should focus on developing strategies to overcoming these negative environmental factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment tested whether physical disorder affected low to moderate income African–American children’s choice of street to walk on and their parents’ choice of a street for them to walk on. The experiment used an innovative desktop simulation in which 32 fourth and fifth grade African–American children and 30 parents viewed and explored pairs of virtual walk-through streets manipulated on disorder (across three contexts and two other street and sidewalk characteristics) and picked from each pair the one to walk on (child) or for the child to walk on (parent). Each participant was asked to report the reasons for the choices. The analysis revealed that children and their parents were more likely to walk (or have the child walk) on streets lower in disorder. Reported reasons for choices confirmed the importance of physical disorder in affecting walking choices. Low-cost improvements in order may make streets more desirable for recreational walking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the legislators in the UK, Italy and Belgium have progressively empowered local authorities to subject sometimes already criminalised and harmful, but also some relatively harmless uncivil conduct to intrusive and punitive measures deeply affecting individuals' rights. However, judicial action in these three countries has been recently trying to restrain the (illegitimate) use of penalising powers of local authorities by delivering interesting liberty-safeguarding decisions. This paper firstly describes the (expanded) regulation of incivilities in the three aforesaid European countries. Secondly, it focuses on two criteria that inform judicial review of legislative and administrative action, namely the principle of legality and the principle of proportionality. Thirdly, it examines the case law of English, Welsh and Scottish courts, along with Italian and Belgian courts, and shows how courts can safeguard the individual's rights and freedoms against (illegitimate) penalisation of conduct that is deemed antisocial or uncivil at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article increases the body of knowledge on the origins of plural policing in a continental setting, more specifically in Belgium. Compared to other European countries, Belgium occupies a unique position, which can be explained by its particular constitutional setting. While non-police public actors execute police surveillance tasks in the public space, private security companies have no more competences than any ordinary citizen. Today maintenance of social disorder in the public space presents itself as a municipal patchwork, delineated by municipal autonomy and by political choices against privatisation. In this article we formulate an answer to the central research question 'How did plural policing processes in Belgium originate and what is the current situation?' By means of a multiple case study with triangulation of methods, 27 years of security policy (1985-2012) are analysed. Contrasting with neo-liberal policies in the UK from the 1970s on, Belgian policy was shaped by the powerful presence of socio-democrats who occupied key ministry positions in the federal government, such as the minister of the Interior and the minister of Big Cities, throughout the entire time period. Political bargaining processes explain the ongoing investment in prevention and in 'purple vests,' and the choice to exclude private actors in the public space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]