Direct and Indirect Impacts of Housing Tenure Mix on Antisocial Behavior: A Study of Hong Kong’s Private Housing Communities

Yung Yau

doi:10.3390/socsci9070124

Abstract

The problem of antisocial behavior (ASB) undermines the life quality of urban residents. While many previous studies on ASB focused on the solutions, little effort has been dedicated to finding out the social determinants of the levels of ASB problems in private housing communities, especially in high-rise residential settings in Asian cities. Previous empirical research suggests that ASB seriousness can be a function of poor neighborliness, community detachment and management efficacy. Yet, the link between housing tenure mix and ASB problems has been underexplored in the literature. In this light, a multilevel design with hierarchical modeling was employed to test the hypothesized direct and indirect (moderation) effects of housing tenure mix on the perceived seriousness of ASB in neighborhoods. The dataset came from a structured questionnaire survey of 592 residents living in 17 private high-rise housing communities in Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong. The results indicated that the seriousness of the ASB problem was largely dependent on poor neighborliness and community detachment. A higher level of renting in a housing community was also found to amplify perceived ASB seriousness, and enhance the influence of poor neighborliness on ASB seriousness. The research findings highlight the importance of tenure mix in predicting the degree of ASB proliferation in a housing community.

Highlights

It is the aspiration of many people to have a comfortable home
The results indicated that the seriousness of the antisocial behavior (ASB) problem was largely dependent on poor neighborliness and community detachment
First incepted in the 1970s and later promoted by Bryk and Raudenbush (1992), hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) is regarded as a statistical technique “that allows researchers to examine relationships involving predictors at two or more levels and an outcome at a single level, generally at the lowest level represented by the predictors” (Gavin and Hofmann 2002, pp. 15–16)

Summary

Introduction

It is the aspiration of many people to have a comfortable home. livability depends on a wide variety of factors, ranging from housing design to community management. Behavior is a critical determinant of the peacefulness of a housing community. Residents suffer from varying levels of antisocial behavior (ASB) or disruptive neighbor behavior. 25% of public housing tenants in Hong Kong found the problem of disruptive neighbors in their housing communities to be intolerable (Yau 2012b). Many residents complained of inconsiderate neighbors for littering or disposing of bulky items in the estates’ communal areas. In the national survey conducted in Australia, 69% of adults reported at least one neighborhood problem (like ASB) in their neighborhoods (Australian Statistics Bureau 2010). According to the results of a Belgium-based survey, 46% of the respondents reported nuisance behavior from their neighbors (Michaux et al 2017)

Objectives

Results

Conclusion