Psychology of Violence, Vol 16(3), May 2026, 306-319; doi:10.1037/vio0000635
Objective: Despite the centrality of neighborhood-level conditions in theories about and approaches to counter radicalization, little research examines the effects of factors such factors. This study sought to examine the relationship between neighborhood disorder and disadvantage and radical attitudes, including comparing this with general violent attitudes. Method: Data combined from Wave 7 of the World Values Survey (2017–2020) for the United States, the Area Deprivation Index, and the American Community Survey at the census block level was analyzed using multilevel general linear models. Results: Increased neighborhood disorder and a sense of safety were associated with increased radical attitudes. Conversely, neighborhood disadvantage and neighborhood connectedness and trust were predictive of ordinary violent, but not radical, attitudes. Conclusions: The overlap in risk and protective factors between criminal and radical attitudes may be more limited in the case of meso-level factors than it is for individual-level factors. Interventions focused on developing community resilience should give greater weight to environmental factors over social ecology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)