A Boessen
Biographic Data
| ID | 27895 |
|---|---|
| NAME | A Boessen |
| GIVEN NAMES | A |
| FAMILY NAME | Boessen |
| SIGNATURE | BOESSEN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Missouri–St. Louis |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5907-327X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 213 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Long-Term Dynamics of Neighborhoods and Crime
The spatial distribution of neighborhood safety ties
There is conflicting evidence in the literature regarding the relationship between residents’ social networks and their perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy. This study proposes addressing this challenge with several theoretically motivated refinements using a large spatially stratified sample of residents in the Western United States. First, we consider various distinct types of social relationships, and find that our novel measure of…
The Network of Neighborhoods and Geographic Space
The built environment, spatial scale, and social networks
In this study, we examine how different features of the built environment—density, diversity of land uses, and design—have consequences for personal networks. We also consider whether different features of the built environment have consequences for the spatial location of persons to whom one is tied by considering their distribution in local area, broader city region, and a more macro spatial scale. We test these ideas with a large sample of the…
Disagreement in Assessing Neighboring and Collective Efficacy
Whereas existing research typically treats variability in residents' reports of collective efficacy and neighboring as measurement error, the authors consider such variability as of substantive interest in itself. This variability may indicate disagreement among residents with implications for the neighborhood collectivity. The authors propose using a general measure of social distance based on several social dimensions (rather than measures base…
Parks as crime inhibitors or generators
Although neighborhood studies often focus on the presence of some particular entity and its consequences for a variety of local processes, a frequent limitation is the failure to account more broadly for the local context. This paper therefore examines the role of parks for community crime, but contributes to the literature by testing whether the context of land uses and demographics nearby parks moderate the parks and crime relationship. A key f…
Neighborhood crime, the housing crisis, and geographic space
In the wake of the U.S. housing crisis, a flurry of research has examined the consequences of foreclosure for crime, and much of the literature suggests that foreclosure impacts crime through vacancy. We suggest that foreclosure and vacancy have distinct crime processes and their effects should be examined in tandem. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of foreclosure and vacancy, particularly in surrounding neighborhoods, may have different con…
Social fabric and fear of crime
Voluntary Organizations and Neighborhood Crime
Although numerous theories suggest that voluntary organizations contribute to lower crime rates in neighborhoods, the evidence for this proposition is weak. Consequently, we propose a dynamic perspective for understanding the relationship between voluntary organizations and neighborhood crime that involves longitudinal analyses and the measurement of the age of organizations. By using longitudinal data on a sample of census blocks ( N = 87,641) l…
Close‐ups and the Scale of Ecology
Whereas one line of recent neighborhood research has placed an emphasis on zooming into smaller units of analysis such as street blocks, another line of research has suggested that even the meso‐area of neighborhoods is too narrow and that the area surrounding the neighborhood is also important. Thus, there is a need to examine the scale at which the social ecology impacts crime. We use data from seven cities from around the year 2000 to test our…
The Relationship of Age to Personal Network Size, Relational Multiplexity, and Proximity to Alters in the Western United States
Although personal network size ultimately declines with age, we find that increases for some relations extend well into late-midlife and most elders still maintain numerous contacts across diverse relations. The evidence we present suggests that older people tap into an wider variety of different network members for different types of relations than do younger people. This is true even for populations in rural settings, for whom immediate access …
Networks, Space, and Residents’ Perception of Cohesion
Community scholars increasingly focus on the linkage between residents’ sense of cohesion with the neighborhood and their own social networks in the neighborhood. A challenge is that whereas some research only focuses on residents’ social ties with fellow neighbors, such an approach misses out on the larger constellation of individuals’ relationships and the spatial distribution of those relationships. Using data from the Twin Communities Network…
Extrapolative simulation of neighborhood networks based on population spatial distribution
Egohoods as Waves Washing Across the City
Defining “neighborhoods” is a bedeviling challenge faced by all studies of neighborhood effects and ecological models of social processes. Although scholars frequently lament the inadequacies of the various existing definitions of “neighborhood,” we argue that previous strategies relying on nonoverlapping boundaries such as block groups and tracts are fundamentally flawed. The approach taken here instead builds on insights of the mental mapping l…
Measuring ‘neighborhood’
Immigrants and Social Distance
This project studied the effect of immigrant in-mobility on the trajectory of socioeconomic change in neighborhoods. The authors suggest that immigrant inflows may impact neighborhoods due to the consequences of residential mobility and the extent to which these new residents differ from the current residents. The authors use Southern California over a nearly 50-year period (1960 to 2007) as a case study to explore the short- and long- term impac…
Close‐ups and the Scale of Ecology
Whereas one line of recent neighborhood research has placed an emphasis on zooming into smaller units of analysis such as street blocks, another line of research has suggested that even the meso‐area of neighborhoods is too narrow and that the area surrounding the neighborhood is also important. Thus, there is a need to examine the scale at which the social ecology impacts crime. We use data from seven cities from around the year 2000 to test our…
Egohoods as Waves Washing Across the City
Defining “neighborhoods” is a bedeviling challenge faced by all studies of neighborhood effects and ecological models of social processes. Although scholars frequently lament the inadequacies of the various existing definitions of “neighborhood,” we argue that previous strategies relying on nonoverlapping boundaries such as block groups and tracts are fundamentally flawed. The approach taken here instead builds on insights of the mental mapping l…
Voluntary Organizations and Neighborhood Crime
Although numerous theories suggest that voluntary organizations contribute to lower crime rates in neighborhoods, the evidence for this proposition is weak. Consequently, we propose a dynamic perspective for understanding the relationship between voluntary organizations and neighborhood crime that involves longitudinal analyses and the measurement of the age of organizations. By using longitudinal data on a sample of census blocks ( N = 87,641) l…
Neighborhood crime, the housing crisis, and geographic space
In the wake of the U.S. housing crisis, a flurry of research has examined the consequences of foreclosure for crime, and much of the literature suggests that foreclosure impacts crime through vacancy. We suggest that foreclosure and vacancy have distinct crime processes and their effects should be examined in tandem. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of foreclosure and vacancy, particularly in surrounding neighborhoods, may have different con…
The Relationship of Age to Personal Network Size, Relational Multiplexity, and Proximity to Alters in the Western United States
Although personal network size ultimately declines with age, we find that increases for some relations extend well into late-midlife and most elders still maintain numerous contacts across diverse relations. The evidence we present suggests that older people tap into an wider variety of different network members for different types of relations than do younger people. This is true even for populations in rural settings, for whom immediate access …
Parks as crime inhibitors or generators
Although neighborhood studies often focus on the presence of some particular entity and its consequences for a variety of local processes, a frequent limitation is the failure to account more broadly for the local context. This paper therefore examines the role of parks for community crime, but contributes to the literature by testing whether the context of land uses and demographics nearby parks moderate the parks and crime relationship. A key f…
Networks, Space, and Residents’ Perception of Cohesion
Community scholars increasingly focus on the linkage between residents’ sense of cohesion with the neighborhood and their own social networks in the neighborhood. A challenge is that whereas some research only focuses on residents’ social ties with fellow neighbors, such an approach misses out on the larger constellation of individuals’ relationships and the spatial distribution of those relationships. Using data from the Twin Communities Network…
Disagreement in Assessing Neighboring and Collective Efficacy
Whereas existing research typically treats variability in residents' reports of collective efficacy and neighboring as measurement error, the authors consider such variability as of substantive interest in itself. This variability may indicate disagreement among residents with implications for the neighborhood collectivity. The authors propose using a general measure of social distance based on several social dimensions (rather than measures base…
Immigrants and Social Distance
This project studied the effect of immigrant in-mobility on the trajectory of socioeconomic change in neighborhoods. The authors suggest that immigrant inflows may impact neighborhoods due to the consequences of residential mobility and the extent to which these new residents differ from the current residents. The authors use Southern California over a nearly 50-year period (1960 to 2007) as a case study to explore the short- and long- term impac…
The spatial distribution of neighborhood safety ties
There is conflicting evidence in the literature regarding the relationship between residents’ social networks and their perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy. This study proposes addressing this challenge with several theoretically motivated refinements using a large spatially stratified sample of residents in the Western United States. First, we consider various distinct types of social relationships, and find that our novel measure of…
Measuring ‘neighborhood’
Immigrants and Social Distance
This project studied the effect of immigrant in-mobility on the trajectory of socioeconomic change in neighborhoods. The authors suggest that immigrant inflows may impact neighborhoods due to the consequences of residential mobility and the extent to which these new residents differ from the current residents. The authors use Southern California over a nearly 50-year period (1960 to 2007) as a case study to explore the short- and long- term impac…
Extrapolative simulation of neighborhood networks based on population spatial distribution
Egohoods as Waves Washing Across the City
Defining “neighborhoods” is a bedeviling challenge faced by all studies of neighborhood effects and ecological models of social processes. Although scholars frequently lament the inadequacies of the various existing definitions of “neighborhood,” we argue that previous strategies relying on nonoverlapping boundaries such as block groups and tracts are fundamentally flawed. The approach taken here instead builds on insights of the mental mapping l…
The Relationship of Age to Personal Network Size, Relational Multiplexity, and Proximity to Alters in the Western United States
Although personal network size ultimately declines with age, we find that increases for some relations extend well into late-midlife and most elders still maintain numerous contacts across diverse relations. The evidence we present suggests that older people tap into an wider variety of different network members for different types of relations than do younger people. This is true even for populations in rural settings, for whom immediate access …
Networks, Space, and Residents’ Perception of Cohesion
Community scholars increasingly focus on the linkage between residents’ sense of cohesion with the neighborhood and their own social networks in the neighborhood. A challenge is that whereas some research only focuses on residents’ social ties with fellow neighbors, such an approach misses out on the larger constellation of individuals’ relationships and the spatial distribution of those relationships. Using data from the Twin Communities Network…
Close‐ups and the Scale of Ecology
Whereas one line of recent neighborhood research has placed an emphasis on zooming into smaller units of analysis such as street blocks, another line of research has suggested that even the meso‐area of neighborhoods is too narrow and that the area surrounding the neighborhood is also important. Thus, there is a need to examine the scale at which the social ecology impacts crime. We use data from seven cities from around the year 2000 to test our…
Social fabric and fear of crime
Voluntary Organizations and Neighborhood Crime
Although numerous theories suggest that voluntary organizations contribute to lower crime rates in neighborhoods, the evidence for this proposition is weak. Consequently, we propose a dynamic perspective for understanding the relationship between voluntary organizations and neighborhood crime that involves longitudinal analyses and the measurement of the age of organizations. By using longitudinal data on a sample of census blocks ( N = 87,641) l…
Neighborhood crime, the housing crisis, and geographic space
In the wake of the U.S. housing crisis, a flurry of research has examined the consequences of foreclosure for crime, and much of the literature suggests that foreclosure impacts crime through vacancy. We suggest that foreclosure and vacancy have distinct crime processes and their effects should be examined in tandem. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of foreclosure and vacancy, particularly in surrounding neighborhoods, may have different con…
The built environment, spatial scale, and social networks
In this study, we examine how different features of the built environment—density, diversity of land uses, and design—have consequences for personal networks. We also consider whether different features of the built environment have consequences for the spatial location of persons to whom one is tied by considering their distribution in local area, broader city region, and a more macro spatial scale. We test these ideas with a large sample of the…
Disagreement in Assessing Neighboring and Collective Efficacy
Whereas existing research typically treats variability in residents' reports of collective efficacy and neighboring as measurement error, the authors consider such variability as of substantive interest in itself. This variability may indicate disagreement among residents with implications for the neighborhood collectivity. The authors propose using a general measure of social distance based on several social dimensions (rather than measures base…
Parks as crime inhibitors or generators
Although neighborhood studies often focus on the presence of some particular entity and its consequences for a variety of local processes, a frequent limitation is the failure to account more broadly for the local context. This paper therefore examines the role of parks for community crime, but contributes to the literature by testing whether the context of land uses and demographics nearby parks moderate the parks and crime relationship. A key f…
The Network of Neighborhoods and Geographic Space
Long-Term Dynamics of Neighborhoods and Crime
The spatial distribution of neighborhood safety ties
There is conflicting evidence in the literature regarding the relationship between residents’ social networks and their perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy. This study proposes addressing this challenge with several theoretically motivated refinements using a large spatially stratified sample of residents in the Western United States. First, we consider various distinct types of social relationships, and find that our novel measure of…
Sociology (15 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (12 works) · Geography (12 works) · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies (12 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (10 works) · Criminology (8 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Social Psychology (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Political science (6 works)