Citation

Hishinuma ES, Chang JY, Soli FM. J. Community Health 2012; 37(1): 123-136.

Affiliation

Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center, Department of Psychiatry, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, 1356 Lusitana St., 4th Floor, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA, hishinumae@dop.hawaii.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10900-011-9426-y

PMID

21667344

Abstract

Perception of safety is an important component to the well-being of community members in their own neighborhood. The present study was the first of its kind to model community perception of safety utilizing a primarily Native Hawaiian and Asian American community sample (N = 101) and with perceived youth violence and delinquency as prominent potential influences. The study found that the majority of participants felt that several types of youth violence and delinquency were problems in the community. The overall social-ecological model evidenced a strong fit and indicated that community perception of safety was adversely impacted by perceived youth violence and delinquency and increased through positive relations with neighbors. The implications included the need for a more comprehensive approach to positive youth development and community capacity-building, including incorporation of cultural components, and to determine whether the model is applicable to other minority communities.

Language: en