Bather Jemar R, Silver Diana, Gill Brendan P, Harris Adrian, Bae Jin Yung, Parikh Nina S, Goodman Melody S
Center for Anti-racism, Social Justice & Public Health, New York University School of Global Public Health, 708 Broadway 9th Floor, New York, NY, 10003, USA.
Department of Biostatistics, New York University School of Global Public Health, New York, NY, 10003, USA.
Inj Epidemiol. 2024 Sep 30;11(1):54. doi: 10.1186/s40621-024-00538-w.
Social vulnerability may play a role in social media-involved crime, but few studies have investigated this issue. We investigated associations between social vulnerability and social media-involved violent crimes.
We analyzed 22,801 violent crimes occurring between 2018 and 2023 in Prince George's County, Maryland. Social media involvement was obtained from crime reports at the Prince George's County Police Department. Social media application types included social networking, advertising/selling, ridesharing, dating, image/video hosting, mobile payment, instant messaging/Voice over Internet Protocol, and other. We used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Social Vulnerability Index to assess socioeconomic status (SES), household characteristics, racial and ethnic minority status, housing type and transportation, and overall vulnerability. Modified Poisson models estimated adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) among the overall sample and stratified by crime type (assault and homicide, robbery, and sexual offense). Covariates included year and crime type.
Relative to high tertile areas, we observed a higher prevalence of social media-involved violent crimes in areas with low SES vulnerability (aPR: 1.82, 95% CI: 1.37-2.43), low housing type and transportation vulnerability (aPR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.17-2.02), and low overall vulnerability (aPR: 1.63, 95% CI: 1.23-2.17). Low SES vulnerability areas were significantly associated with higher prevalences of social media-involved assaults and homicides (aPR: 1.64, 95% CI: 1.02-2.62), robberies (aPR: 2.00, 95% CI: 1.28-3.12), and sexual offenses (aPR: 2.07, 95% CI: 1.02-4.19) compared to high SES vulnerability areas. Low housing type and transportation vulnerability (vs. high) was significantly associated with a higher prevalence of social media-involved robberies (aPR: 1.54, 95% CI:1.01-2.37). Modified Poisson models also indicated that low overall vulnerability areas had higher prevalences of social media-involved robberies (aPR: 1.71, 95% CI: 1.10-2.67) and sexual offenses (aPR: 2.14, 95% CI: 1.05-4.39) than high overall vulnerability areas.
We quantified the prevalence of social media-involved violent crimes across social vulnerability levels. These insights underscore the need for collecting incident-based social media involvement in crime reports among law enforcement agencies across the United States and internationally. Comprehensive data collection at the national and international levels provides the capacity to elucidate the relationships between neighborhoods, social media, and population health.
社会脆弱性可能在涉及社交媒体的犯罪中起作用，但很少有研究调查过这个问题。我们调查了社会脆弱性与涉及社交媒体的暴力犯罪之间的关联。
我们分析了2018年至2023年期间在马里兰州乔治王子县发生的22,801起暴力犯罪。社交媒体参与情况来自乔治王子县警察局的犯罪报告。社交媒体应用类型包括社交网络、广告/销售、拼车、约会、图像/视频托管、移动支付、即时通讯/互联网协议语音，以及其他。我们使用疾病控制和预防中心的社会脆弱性指数来评估社会经济地位（SES）、家庭特征、种族和少数民族地位、住房类型和交通，以及总体脆弱性。修正泊松模型估计了总体样本以及按犯罪类型（袭击和杀人、抢劫和性犯罪）分层后的调整患病率比（aPRs）。协变量包括年份和犯罪类型。
与高三分位数地区相比，我们观察到在社会经济地位脆弱性低的地区（aPR：1.82，95%置信区间：1.37 - 2.43）、住房类型和交通脆弱性低的地区（aPR：1.53，95%置信区间：1.17 - 2.02）以及总体脆弱性低的地区（aPR：1.63，95%置信区间：1.23 - 2.17），涉及社交媒体的暴力犯罪患病率更高。与社会经济地位脆弱性高的地区相比，社会经济地位脆弱性低的地区与涉及社交媒体的袭击和杀人（aPR：1.64，95%置信区间：1.02 - 2.62）、抢劫（aPR：2.00，95%置信区间：1.28 - 3.12）和性犯罪（aPR：2.07，95%置信区间：1.02 - 4.19）的更高患病率显著相关。住房类型和交通脆弱性低（与高相比）与涉及社交媒体的抢劫的更高患病率显著相关（aPR：1.54，95%置信区间：1.01 - 2.37）。修正泊松模型还表明，总体脆弱性低的地区与涉及社交媒体的抢劫（aPR：1.71，95%置信区间：1.10 - 2.67）和性犯罪（aPR：2.14，95%置信区间：1.05 - 4.39）的患病率高于总体脆弱性高的地区。
我们量化了不同社会脆弱性水平下涉及社交媒体的暴力犯罪的患病率。这些见解强调了在美国和国际上的执法机构中，在犯罪报告中收集基于事件的社交媒体参与情况的必要性。国家和国际层面的全面数据收集能够阐明社区、社交媒体和人口健康之间的关系。
