Guardianship in context: Implications for burglary victimization risk and prevention

Survey data from 4,227 Seattle residents nested within 100 "neighborhoods" (census tracts) were analyzed to discern interrelationships between various dimensions of individual-level and neighborhood-level guardianship. We focused on four dimensions of guardianship-physical (target hardening), personal (home occupancy), social (informal control), and natural (surveillance through environmental design)-at both individual and neighborhood levels. A multilevel opportunity, theoretical framework guided hypotheses, which suggests that each of the four dimensions of individual guardianship would be related more negatively to burglary as each of the four dimensions of aggregate guardianship increased. Multilevel logistic regression analysis revealed support for many of such hypothesized moderating effects of aggregate guardianship. More specifically, 6 of the 16 possible interaction effects were statistically significant at the.05 level and an additional 3 interaction effects were significant at the.10 level. In particular, individuallevel target hardening, place management, and natural surveillancewere related more negatively to burglary as neighborhood-level target hardening increased, as neighborhood-level informal social control increased, and as neighborhood-level natural surveillance increased.