Joanna Taylor

Diversity or disadvantage? Putnam, Goodhart, ethnic heterogeneity, and collective efficacy

Recent debates have suggested that increasing social diversity within Western economies is associated with adverse social consequences such as loss of community and decline of civic society, including an erosion of collective efficacy (ie shared expectations of and mutual engagement by residents in social control). In the UK and US, these debates have been given impetus by concerns about the effects of growing ethnic heterogeneity on community life. Here there is an assumption that heterogeneity undermines social cohesion and makes the established population less willing to share resources, trust fellow citizens, so that it eventually ‘hunkers down’ and withdraws from collective life. To date there are few studies that have examined this in detail across England at the small-area level. The research presented here explores this terrain by exploiting information from the British Crime Survey on two recognised dimensions of collective efficacy: namely, social cohesion and trust, and informal social control. Multivariate, multilevel models were used to determine the importance of individual and area characteristics in the possible explanation of these outcomes, and particular attention was paid to the relative importance of neighbourhood disadvantage over and above neighbourhood diversity. Results suggest that both diversity and disadvantage are statistically associated with reduced levels of social cohesion and trust, and informal social control, but greater substantive importance is attached to neighbourhood disadvantage.

Using geocoded survey data to improve the accuracy of multilevel small area synthetic estimates

This paper examines the secondary data requirements for multilevel small area synthetic estimation (ML-SASE). This research method uses secondary survey data sets as source data for statistical models. The parameters of these models are used to generate data for small areas. The paper assesses the impact of knowing the geographical location of survey respondents on the accuracy of estimates, moving beyond debating the generic merits of geocoded social survey datasets to examine quantitatively the hypothesis that knowing the approximate location of respondents can improve the accuracy of the resultant estimates. Four sets of synthetic estimates are generated to predict expected levels of limiting long term illnesses using different levels of knowledge about respondent location. The estimates were compared to comprehensive census data on limiting long term illness (LLTI). Estimates based on fully geocoded data were more accurate than estimates based on data that did not include geocodes.

Exploring the Links Between Population Heterogeneity and Perceptions of Social Cohesion in England

There are extensive debates about the measurement and extent of ethnic heterogeneity and segregation, which have formed the basis of much research in the UPTAP programme and elsewhere. However, the focus of this chapter is on debates about the consequences of heterogeneity specifically, whether or not ethnic heterogeneity has an identifiable effect on perceptions of neighbourhood antisocial behaviour and two dimensions of collective efficacy (social cohesion and trust and informal social control). A multilevel modelling approach is used to analyse these aspects of neighbourhood using data from the British Crime Survey which has been linked to external data sources, including the UK Census and the Index of Multiple Deprivation. After allowing for socio-economic characteristics of individuals and areas we find very little evidence for any negative effects of ethnic heterogeneity on perceptions of social cohesion and trust, informal social control or antisocial behaviour. Instead we highlight the importance of neighbourhood disadvantage, rather than diversity, in understanding these aspects of neighbourhood disorder.

Integrating national surveys to estimate small area variations in poor health and limiting long-term illness in Great Britain

Objectives This study aims to address, for the first time, the challenges of constructing small area estimates of health status using linked national surveys. The study also seeks to assess the concordance of these small area estimates with data from national censuses. Setting Population level health status in England, Scotland and Wales. Participants A linked integrated dataset of 23 374 survey respondents (16+ years) from the 2011 waves of the Health Survey for England (n=8603), the Scottish Health Survey (n=7537) and the Welsh Health Survey (n=7234). Primary and secondary outcome measures Population prevalence of poorer self-rated health and limiting long-term illness. A multilevel small area estimation modelling approach was used to estimate prevalence of these outcomes for middle super output areas in England and Wales and intermediate zones in Scotland. The estimates were then compared with matched measures from the contemporaneous 2011 UK Census. Results There was a strong positive association between the small area estimates and matched census measures for all three countries for both poorer self-rated health (r=0.828, 95% CI 0.821 to 0.834) and limiting long-term illness (r=0.831, 95% CI 0.824 to 0.837), although systematic differences were evident, and small area estimation tended to indicate higher prevalences than census data. Conclusions Despite strong concordance, variations in the small area prevalences of poorer self-rated health and limiting long-term illness evident in census data cannot be replicated perfectly using small area estimation with linked national surveys. This reflects a lack of harmonisation between surveys over question wording and design. The nature of small area estimates as ‘expected values’ also needs to be better understood.

Understanding neighbourhood perceptions of alcohol-related anti-social behaviour

Negative perceptions of anti-social behaviour have been shown by previous research to have harmful repercussions to both an individual’s mental and physical health as well as the neighbourhood’s long-term prospects. Studies in the USA have previously found that the location of alcohol supply points is associated with these negative perceptions, whereas recent, more qualitative and ethnographic research from the UK emphasises the heterogenous and contingent nature of attitudes and perceptions towards alcohol consumption patterns and behaviour. Using multilevel models applied to data from a national crime survey and geocoded data on pubs, bars and nightclubs, this paper focuses on the complex relationship between perceptions of alcohol-related anti-social behaviour and the density of such establishments across England. The findings support the general link between unfavourable perceptions and density of outlets but also highlight the complexity of this association by showing that these relationships are dependent on other characteristics of the neighbourhood, namely deprivation and the proportion of young people in the neighbourhood.