NCJ Number
109307
Journal
Basic and Applied Social Psychology Volume: 8 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1987) Pages: 193-207
Date Published
1987
Length
15 pages
Annotation
In recent studies of elderly public housing residents, Lawton and his associates reported that older tenants who were segregated from young families experienced greater satisfaction and less fear of crime than did those who were not housed apart (Lawton and Yaffe, 1980; Teaff, Lawton, Nahemow, and Carlson, 1978). They suggested that segregation was related to positive outcomes because the elderly do not have the capacities to cope with younger public housing residents' activities.
Abstract
This study examined the possibility that Lawton and his associates did not provide an unambiguous test of segregation because their measure failed to distinguish between the elderly's relative group size in the housing site and their segregation from young families. As expected based on the frequent finding in intergroup perception that group members are rated as more trustworthy than are nongroup members, older tenants felt safer and more satisfied when a relatively high number of elderly resided in the public housing site. When the effects of relative group size were controlled, however, segregation was related to lower satisfaction, higher fear, and more extreme ratings of the severity of the local crime problem. This link between segregation and negative outcomes suggests that elderly public housing tenants do not constitute an important exception within theories of prejudice and discrimination. (Author abstract)