Neighborhood Action/Willingness to Intervene
Perkins‚ Florin & Rich‚ 1990
Adapted by Houston Community Demonstration Project‚ 1993
1. If some 10 to 12 year-old youths were spray painting a street sign on the block‚ how likely is it that you or some of your neighbors would tell them to stop?
2. If a suspicious stranger was hanging around the block‚ how likely is it that you or some of your neighbors would notice this and warn others to be on guard?
3. If someone on your block was playing loud music‚ how likely is it that you or some of your neighbors would ask them to turn the music down?
4. If teenagers were fist-fighting on your block‚ how likely is it that you or some of your neighbors would attempt to stop it?
5. If someone on your block was firing a gun‚ how likely is it that you or some of your neighbors would do something about it?
6. If drugs were being sold on your block‚ how likely is it that you or some of your neighbors would do something about it?
- Neighborhood Action
- Willingness to Intervene
This instrument can be found on page 356 of Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes‚ Behaviors‚ and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools‚ available online at: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/YV_Compendium.pdf
Point values are assigned as follows:
Not at all likely=1‚ Somewhat likely=2‚ Very likely= 3
Point values for all responses are summed and then divided by the total number of items. Blank items should not be counted in the number of responses. Higher scores indicate higher levels of expressed likelihood that the respondent or a neighbor would intervene when presented with a problem on their block.
Perkins DD‚ Florin P‚ Rich RC‚ Wandersman A‚ Chavis DM. Participation and the social and physical environment of residential blocks: crime and community context. American Journal of
Community Psychology 1990;18(1):83-115.
Houston Community Demonstration Project. Houston‚ TX: City of Houston Health and Human
Services Department‚ 1993.