Extending social disorganization theory: A multilevel approach to the study of violence among persons with mental illnesses

Prior studies of violence among individuals with mental illnesses have focused almost exclusively on individual-level characteristics. In this study, I examine whether the structural correlates of neighborhood social disorganization also explain variation in violence. I use data on 270 psychiatric patients who were treated and discharged from an acute inpatient facility combined with tract-level data from the 1990 U.S. Census. I find that living in a socially disorganized neighborhood increased the probability of violence among the sample, an effect that was not mediated by self-reported social supports. Implications for future research in the areas of violence and mental illness are discussed.