Graduation Semester and Year
2015
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work
Department
Social Work
First Advisor
Beverly M Black
Abstract
Violent and property crimes are of serious consequences across the world, the US and Texas. This research reports the findings of an exploratory study that assessed the relationships between different community resources – jobs and vocational training resources, advocacy resources, law enforcement resources, mental health and substance abuse resources, recreational resources, and social service and parenting resources and both violent and property crimes in 254 counties in Texas. This cross-sectional study was conducted based on a 2012 secondary data of 254 counties in Texas. Data for the independent variables were derived from the US Census Bureau and KIDS COUNT data center, while the dependent variables were derived from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Uniform Crimes Report. Community resource was measured through the community resource scale, while violent and property crimes were measured using the violent and property crime scale. One construct emerged from the independent variable – community resources, while two constructs emerged for the dependent variable – violent crimes and property crimes. Data analyses included Pearson’s correlation, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. All of the community resources – mental health and substance abuse resources, jobs and vocational training resources, social services and parenting resources, mental health and substance abuse resources, law enforcement resources, and advocacy resources all have positive impact on violent and property crimes. Location in metropolitan or Non-metropolitan County, percentage of children less than 18 years old, and unemployment rate all had positive impact on violent and property crimes. The results of this study will expand our ability to understand to further design and improve resources in ways that may contribute to the larger ecological approaches to violent and property crimes prevention and intervention, from a social work standpoint. Implications for the profession of social work theory, education, research, policy, practice are discussed.
Keywords
Community resources, Violent crimes, Property crimes
Disciplines
Social and Behavioral Sciences | Social Work
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Chigbu, Kingsley Uchechuwku, "The Impact of Community Resources on Violent and Property Crimes" (2015). Social Work Dissertations. 165.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/socialwork_dissertations/165
Comments
Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington