Jornal de Alcoolismo e Dependência de Drogas
Acesso livre
ISSN: 2329-6488
ISSN: 2329-6488
Robert J Reid, Brad Forenza, David T Lardier Jr., Pauline Garcia-Reid
Few studies have examined the influences of the participatory process in which individuals engage in as they work to improve the quality of lives in their communities. More specifically, our present investigation explored the relationship between various contextual factors that predict citizen participation in substance abuse prevention activities among a random sample of urban residents (n=283) who participated in a community-wide policing initiative in the Southwestern United States. A hypothesized path model was tested that included person (concerns with violence victimization and attributions of drug abuse), situation (perceived responsiveness to drug crime), and environment-related predictors (perceived neighbourhood incivilities and awareness of neighbourhood substance abuse problems) of citizen participation. Findings suggest that individuals who perceived higher levels of neighbourhood incivilities tended to have higher levels of participation in substance abuse prevention activities. Interestingly, however, individuals with greater perceived neighbourhood substance abuse problems also tended to perceive that police were less responsive to drug crime in their neighbourhoods. Program developers and public health practitioners should consider the individuals' perception of the neighbourhood environment on citizen participation and include activities designed to address public perception of police responsiveness to crime.