NEIGHBORHOOD RESPONSES TO DISORDER AND LOCAL ATTACHMENTS - THE SYSTEMIC MODEL OF ATTACHMENT, SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION, AND NEIGHBORHOOD USE VALUE

This paper investigates neighborhood-level connections between ecologi cal structure, responses to disorder and local attachment and social i nvolvement We develop predictions integrating the systemic model of co mmunity attachment, neighborhood use value, and the social disorganiza tion perspective. The systemic model predicts neighborhood stability w ill deepen attachment and local involvement; the social disorganizatio n perspective anticipates effects of stability on responses to disorde r; and neighborhood use value suggests effects of status, racial compo sition, and problems such as crime and deterioration on attachment. We further propose, building on earlier work, that attachment may influe nce responses to disorder or vice versa. Data include resident surveys , census information, on-site assessments, and crime rates from 66 ran domly selected Baltimore, Maryland, neighborhoods lit support, respect ively, of the systemic and neighborhood use value models, we find stro ng impacts of stability and class on neighborhood attachment/involveme nt. Neighborhood fear and perceived informal social control depend upo n emotional investment and social integration. We see no overall impac ts of deterioration on responses to disorder calling into question som e key aspects of the incivilities thesis. Earlier investigations of de terioration and responses to disorder that secluded person-place trans actions may have been misspecified. Results underscore the strong rela tionship between person-environment transactions and responses to diso rder Asking how to encourage citizens to resist disorder is questionin g, in part how to increase the bonds residents have with the locale an d with one another.