“Informal social control” was represented by
a five-item Likert-type scale. Residents
were asked about the likelihood (“Would
you say it is very likely, likely, neither likely
nor unlikely, unlikely, or very unlikely?”)
that their neighbors could be counted on to
intervene in various ways if (i) children
were skipping school and hanging out on a
street corner, (ii) children were spray-painting
graffiti on a local building, (iii) children
were showing disrespect to an adult