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Much current research on victimisation focuses primarily on demographic risk factors associated with those who have experienced crime and how these factors affect the likelihood of a person breaching the so called ‘first hurdle’. That is, the probability of moving from a state of non-victim to one of victim. In contrast, this thesis will argue that in order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of victimisation, it is not only desirable but necessary to move beyond the study of the causes of criminal victimisation and examine the consequences for victims as well as the criminal justice system as a whole. Thus, it seeks to explain the experience of victimisation not just as an isolated incident, but as a process consisting of a number of steps or stages of progression through the criminal justice system, each one building on the last. As such, in addition to considering risk factors, this thesis also examines the decision to report a crime to the police, the use of victim services, as well as the perceived satisfaction with services received. In so doing it explores not only the causes and consequences of crime, but the longer term impact of criminal victimisation. The results presented here are based on the secondary analysis of data from the 2008/9 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey complimented by a data set acquired through in-depth interviews with victims of crime from the Edinburgh Local Authority. Interview data is used to provide a greater depth of meaning to the patterns which emerged from the survey data; lending insight into the psychological processes driving victim decision making and behaviour. This thesis thus provides an example of how a combination of techniques including multi-level modelling and interview analysis, provide a clearer understanding of how victims experience crime. Findings suggest that factors associated with each step of the process are related and may represent a more general underlying pattern of victimisation. It is also argued that by employing multi-level analysis, the thesis provides a more accurate explanation of how respondent’s experiences may differ according to the context in which they live. Finally, the analysis highlights the ongoing importance of emotion in victim decision making and the severity of long term impact. The analysis presented offers new insights into how we understand victimisation as an ongoing experience, as well as demonstrating the necessity of the analytic techniques employed. It is however somewhat confined by the coverage of survey questions and the limited generalizability of the data collected in interviews due to the small sample size. These concerns will be discussed, along with recommendations for victim policy and future research.

Much current discourse around policing in the UK stresses the need for a partnership between the police and public and, in particular, the need for the police to be responsive to the concerns of local communities. It is argued that appearing responsive to local needs, and showing a willingness to consult the public in the process of decision making, is likely to increase support for the police. Despite this, detailed analysis of the public’s preferences for policing remains relatively sparse. This thesis uses data from the 2003-04 Metropolitan Police’s Public Attitude Survey (PAS) to consider whether survey data can provide a useful indication of a respondent’s preferences, and how these preferences may vary depending on the characteristics of respondents and the boroughs in which they live. This thesis argues that rather than simply considering some overall measure of the level of policing individuals would like to see, or investigating attitudes towards different functions of the police individually, a more interesting and complete view of preferences for policing can be developed by looking at the mix of policing that individuals best believe will meet their needs. Additionally, it will be shown that differences in respondents’ preferences can be related to both the characteristics of individuals and the nature of the boroughs in which they live. It will be suggested that some of these relationships provide evidence that respondents favour a mix of policing they believe will protect them from perceived threats and reflect their perception of the police’s role within society. In addition, this thesis provides an example of how the techniques of Factor Analysis and Latent Class Analysis can provide greater insight into the data collected in large scale surveys. It is suggested that responses provided to different questions are often related and may represent a more general underlying attitude held by the respondent. It is also argued that using techniques which can handle multilevel data will provide greater explanatory depth by suggesting how a respondent’s attitude may be influenced by the context in which they live. The analysis presented offers new insights into the public’s priorities for policing and demonstrates the worth of the statistical methods employed. However it is, to some extent, limited by the form of the questions within the PAS dataset and by the lack of information about the thought process underlying a respondent’s answers. These concerns will be discussed, along with suggestions for future research.

Although several studies have demonstrated that differential parenting has a negative impact on the children exposed to it, only a small number of studies have attempted to understand why differential parenting occurs within families. The goal of the present study was to examine the contextual correlates of differential parenting. Specifically, the association between parental socioeconomic status (SES) and differential parenting and the association between objective and subjective indices of neighbourhood quality and differential parenting were investigated. Data were collected as part of the Kids, Families, and Places (KFP) study and analyzed using multilevel modeling. Six hundred and fifty families provided data on 881 children. Five hundred and ninety nine families included a father in the home. Close to seventy five percent of children included in the sample were less than six years of age. Differential parenting was assessed separately for mothers and fathers and across positive and negative parenting outcomes. The findings revealed that parental SES was significantly associated with differential parenting for three of four parenting outcomes. For mothers, SES was negatively associated with differential positivity and negativity. For fathers, SES was negatively associated with differential positivity but not negativity. The objective quality of neighbourhoods in which families resided (i.e., measured as a composite score that combined census tract data on neighbourhood disadvantage and interviewer observations of neighbourhood physical and social disorder) was positively associated with maternal differential negativity; however, this association was also moderated by mothers’ subjective perceptions of their neighbourhoods (i.e., measured using maternal reports of neighbourhood collective efficacy). In other words, when mothers perceived their neighbourhoods to be highly cohesive and supportive, exposure to objectively unfavourable neighbourhood conditions was less strongly associated with differential negativity. Objective neighbourhood quality was not associated with the other three differential parenting outcomes of interest. These findings highlight the important relationship that exists between contextual influences both within and outside of the immediate family and differential parenting. Moreover, they speak to the importance of including both mothers and fathers in studies of differential parenting. The merits of using multilevel modelling to investigate differential parenting and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Although several studies have demonstrated that differential parenting has a negative impact on the children exposed to it, only a small number of studies have attempted to understand why differential parenting occurs within families. The goal of the present study was to examine the contextual correlates of differential parenting. Specifically, the association between parental socioeconomic status (SES) and differential parenting and the association between objective and subjective indices of neighbourhood quality and differential parenting were investigated. Data were collected as part of the Kids, Families, and Places (KFP) study and analyzed using multilevel modeling. Six hundred and fifty families provided data on 881 children. Five hundred and ninety nine families included a father in the home. Close to seventy five percent of children included in the sample were less than six years of age. Differential parenting was assessed separately for mothers and fathers and across positive and negative parenting outcomes. The findings revealed that parental SES was significantly associated with differential parenting for three of four parenting outcomes. For mothers, SES was negatively associated with differential positivity and negativity. For fathers, SES was negatively associated with differential positivity but not negativity. The objective quality of neighbourhoods in which families resided (i.e., measured as a composite score that combined census tract data on neighbourhood disadvantage and interviewer observations of neighbourhood physical and social disorder) was positively associated with maternal differential negativity; however, this association was also moderated by mothers’ subjective perceptions of their neighbourhoods (i.e., measured using maternal reports of neighbourhood collective efficacy). In other words, when mothers perceived their neighbourhoods to be highly cohesive and supportive, exposure to objectively unfavourable neighbourhood conditions was less strongly associated with differential negativity. Objective neighbourhood quality was not associated with the other three differential parenting outcomes of interest. These findings highlight the important relationship that exists between contextual influences both within and outside of the immediate family and differential parenting. Moreover, they speak to the importance of including both mothers and fathers in studies of differential parenting. The merits of using multilevel modelling to investigate differential parenting and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Transport accessibility to healthcare facilities is a major issue in the United Kingdom, as recently demonstrated by the shift away from providing healthcare in acute hospitals to care closer to home . Common measures of accessibility focus on the creation of distance or travel time contours around a destination and devote less attention to individual differences such as user perceptions, their transport usage, and area-wide factors including income deprivation, safety and security. Failure to account for such factors may result in imperfect decision making in terms of healthcare relocation and reconfiguration. This thesis therefore aims to develop a user-based accessibility model by focusing on both individual socio-economic (e.g. age, gender, access to transport modes) and area-wide characteristics (e.g. income deprivation, public transport provision, safety and security). In order to identify important factors that affect accessibility and to develop the user-based accessibility model, two revealed preference questionnaire surveys were undertaken at Loughborough and Hinckley. The purpose of the first questionnaire was to understand underlying factors affecting accessibility to a healthcare facility. The results revealed that both individual and area-wide factors affect transport accessibility to a healthcare facility. The purpose of the second questionnaire was conducted to capture data relating to users perception of accessibility and their socio-economic factors so as to develop a user-perception based accessibility model. Network-based travel time and travel distance as well as public transport provision data from a respondent home to a healthcare facility were generated using a GIS technique. Individual-level questionnaire data were then integrated with the other secondary datasets (e.g. Census, Index of Multiple Deprivation, Accidents) using postcodes of survey respondents. Both single-level and multilevel mixed-effects linear regression models were employed to develop a relationship between user-perceptions relating to accessibility and the factors influencing accessibility. Multilevel models that can control data from the two levels (i.e. individuals nested within local areas) provided better goodness-of-fit statistics compared with those of single-level regression models. The results indicate that travel distance by car, number of available direct bus services, age, and destination choices affect user-perceptions of accessibility to a healthcare facility. For instance, if travel distance by car increases by one mile then the perception of accessibility to a healthcare facility decreases by four units (on a scale of 0-100). Surprisingly, many area-wide factors such as security and safety, income deprivation were found to be statistically insignificant. In order to see which healthcare facility is more accessible, calibrated multilevel models along with number of people within the catchment area were then employed to predict the overall accessibility score related to a healthcare facility. This is important for policy makers in healthcare facility relocation and reconfiguration with respect to user perception of transport accessibility. Also it would be valuable to organisations that need to make decisions based on their users perceptions who are the real decision makers as to whether to use a facility or not.

Vector-borne diseases, such as those transmitted by mosquitoes, pose a significant public health concern in many countries worldwide. In this thesis, I explored the role of a number of risk factors defined at multiple scales on vector-borne disease prevalence, focusing on malaria and arboviral infections in several regions of North-Eastern Tanzania, with the principal aim of improving the overall diagnosis of febrile illness in this region. First, I investigated the influence of household-wealth on prevalence of malaria and arboviral infections using principal component analysis (PCA), and then described the methodological challenges associated with this statistical technique when used to compute indices from smaller datasets. I then employed a multilevel modelling approach to simultaneously incorporate household-level anthropogenic factors and village-level environmental characteristics to investigate key determinants of Anopheles malaria vector density among rural households. These analyses provided methodologically rigorous approaches to studying vector-borne diseases at a very fine-scale and also have significant public health relevance as the research findings can assist in guiding policy decisions regarding surveillance efforts as well as inform where and when to prioritize interventions.

Suicide is a major public health concern in the UK, with recent published rates for England at 11.8 per 100,000 population for the year 2011. There has been extensive research into individual-level risk factors for suicide, though some suggest that ecological and social factors may also have an influence on suicide. The majority of the UK literature investigating this has examined suicide rates in relation to area-level deprivation or social fragmentation scores. Most of the research has not accounted for ecological fallacy (in this instance the erroneous assumption that factors associated with suicide at the group-level would be associated with suicide at the individual-level and vice versa). This thesis uses multilevel modelling to investigate differences in suicide by area, in order to account for both individual and area-level factors. Data from the 2001 UK Census, and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) were combined to create a complete case-control sample of suicide vs. non-suicide for the year 2001. This represents an alternative methodology for examining suicide incidence in England and Wales. Analysing this data by NHS Primary Care Organisation (PCO) for England, and Local Health Board (LHB) for Wales could influence how NHS services are allocated. UK Census data was then linked with patient data from The National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness (NCISH), to examine suicide amongst both the general population and people in contact with mental health services. Analysing this data by PCO and LHB highlights specific risk factors for certain types of suicide in different areas in England and Wales. Again, this could influence the allocation of NHS services within particular areas. This study found that including information about individual-level characteristics explained the majority of variance in suicide types between areas. Social fragmentation was associated with certain types of suicide after controlling for individual-level factors, and was associated with suicide risk in the initial case-control sample. This suggests that social cohesion at a local level is important for suicide prevention, and for improving the mental health of the nation. This supports the goals of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England.

Millions of children travel to and from school each day as part of their daily routine. A large percentage of children make this journey by car, and the numbers are steadily rising and this is leading to many environmental and health implications for children. The current economic climate has persuaded the British Government to look again at policies relating to all school travel funding to highlight areas where savings and cuts can be made. This is interesting because the home-to-school transport provision policy has been in place since the Education Act 1944 and this policy costs local authorities in England over £1 billion a year. Therefore, the focus of this thesis is threefold. Firstly, it seeks to determine the main issues within school travel and reports on the views of current professionals in the school travel industry. Structured in-depth interviews were carried out with 16 UK and US school travel experts. The questions focused on the current stakeholders of school travel, issues regarding school travel, bus use in school travel, and the challenges faced by transport planners to ensure school pupils have a safe and pleasant journey to school. Secondly this thesis quantifies the traffic and environmental impacts of the school choice policy in England. It achieves this by analysing School Census data from 2009 from the Department for Education. Multinomial logit modelling and mixed multinomial logit modelling are used to illustrate the current travel behaviour of English children in their journey to school and examine how there can be a significant reduction in vehicle miles travelled, CO2 emissions and fuel consumption if the school choice policy is removed. The results suggest that if all children attended their nearest school, this would result in reductions in their personal mobility, vehicle miles travelled and CO2 emissions. Finally, this thesis examines the policies relating to the funding criteria of home-to-school public school transport provision. Specifically, the paper employs a multilevel modelling technique to develop a series of relationships between bus usage by school and the level of spending by local education authorities on home-to-school bus travel provision while controlling for other factors such as school quality, land-use patterns and various proxies for household incomes. The results suggest that there is a significant effect of funding on the total school-level bus passenger mileage for primary (aged less than 11), secondary (aged 11 to 16) and Post 16 schools.

This thesis consists of four individual essays and an introduction chapter. The essays are in the field of multilevel analysis of economic data. The first essay estimates capitalisation effects of farm attributes, with a particular focus on single farm payments (SFP), into the price of farms. Using a sample of Swedish farm transactions sold all across the country, the results from a spatial multiple-membership model suggests that the local effect of SFP is negative while there is a positive between-region effect of SFP, on farm prices.   The second essay investigates the extent to which differences in the probability to exit from part-time unemployment to a full-time job can be accounted for by spatial contextual factors and individual characteristics. To correctly incorporate contextual effects, a multilevel analysis was applied to explore whether contextual factors account for differences in the probability of transition to full-time employment between individuals with different characteristics. The results indicate that there is a contextual effect and that there are some spatial spill-over effects from neighbouring municipalities.   The third essay investigates the determinants of educational attainment for third-generation immigrants and natives in Sweden. Using a mixed-effects model that includes unobserved family heterogeneity, for linked register data, the main result is that the effect of parent’s educational attainment is mainly due to the between-parental education effect of family income.   The fourth and last essay presents a new robust strategy for performance evaluation in the case of panel data that is based on routinely collected variables or indicators. The suggested strategy applies a cross-classified, mixed-effect model. The strategy is implemented in two illustrative empirical examples, and the robustness is investigated in a Monte Carlo study.