Table 3
Individual and neighbourhood characteristics associated with variation in fear of crime across neighbourhoods

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  Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
odds ratio (95% CI1) odds ratio (95% CI1) odds ratio (95% CI1)
Average neighbourhood odds ratio (intercept) 0.03*** (0.03, 0.04) 0.04*** (0.03, 0.04) 0.02*** (0.02, 0.03)
Individual characteristics 
Female 4.81*** (4.24, 5.46) 4.97*** (4.38, 5.64) 5.50*** (4.77, 6.34)
Age2
15 to 24 years 0.95 (0.79, 1.14) 0.96 (0.80, 1.16) 0.94 (0.77, 1.16)
45 to 64 years 1.24** (1.08, 1.42) 1.29** (1.12, 1.47) 1.40*** (1.21, 1.62)
65 years and older 1.73*** (1.43, 2.09) 1.84*** (1.52, 2.23) 2.15*** (1.73, 2.66)
Total household income quartiles2
Lowest income quartile 2.29*** (1.86, 2.83) 1.85*** (1.49, 2.29) 1.49** (1.19, 1.88)
Second income quartile 1.71*** (1.38, 2.12) 1.52*** (1.22, 1.89) 1.37** (1.08, 1.73)
Third income quartile 1.38** (1.12, 1.71) 1.27* (1.02, 1.57) 1.14 (0.91, 1.43)
Missing3 2.02*** (1.62, 2.51) 1.80*** (1.44, 2.25) 1.59*** (1.26, 2.02)
Education2
Less than secondary 1.62*** (1.37, 1.91) 1.64*** (1.39, 1.95) 1.72*** (1.43, 2.07)
Secondary  1.11 (0.95, 1.31) 1.13 (0.95, 1.33) 1.26* (1.06, 1.51)
Some post-secondary 1.05 (0.89, 1.24) 1.04 (0.88, 1.23) 1.07 (0.89, 1.29)
Visible minority status 1.16 (0.98, 1.38) 0.97 (0.81, 1.16) 1.11 (0.92, 1.34)
Victimized in past year 1.66*** (1.48, 1.87) 1.58*** (1.40, 1.78) 1.27** (1.11, 1.45)
Physical disorder a problem … … … … 1.67*** (1.41, 1.98)
Social disorder a problem … … … … 1.94*** (1.66, 2.26)
Crime is higher here than other neighbourhoods … … … … 3.14*** (2.64, 3.74)
Neighbourhood characteristics4
High percentage of low income families  … … 1.80*** (1.54, 2.11) 1.56*** (1.32, 1.85)
High percentage of population aged 65 and older … … 1.01 (0.89, 1.14) 0.97 (0.85, 1.11)
High percentage of visible minority population … … 1.35*** (1.19, 1.53) 1.14 (0.99, 1.30)
High percentage of lone-parent families … … 1.16* (1.00, 1.35) 1.05 (0.90, 1.23)
Low percentage of longer term residents  … … 0.95 (0.83, 1.08) 0.92 (0.80, 1.05)
Low percentage of newer dwellings … … 0.98 (0.86, 1.11) 0.93 (0.81, 1.07)
Neighbourhood-level variance component5 0.39*** … 0.32*** … 0.25*** …
Intraclass correlation (ICC)6 0.11 … 0.09 … 0.07 …
  percentage
Percentage reduction in the ICC from the empty model 13.0 … 27.0 … 41.0 …
* p ≤ 0.05
** p ≤ 0.01
*** p ≤ 0.001
1. Confidence interval.
2. Reference categories for age = 25 to 44 years; total household income = fourth income quartile (highest); education = post secondary degree or diploma.
3. Missing 'total household income' information is included as a separate category in order to retain non-responding individuals for analyses.
4. Neighbourhood variables split at the median representing high and low proportions of the characteristics. (For definitions see 'Description of variables' in the Methodology section). 
5. Variance component refers to the variance between neighbourhoods in the neighbourhood-average odds ratio of fear of crime.
6. ICC or the percentage of total variance in outcomes associated with the neighbourhood was approximated as: neighbourhood variance/(neighbourhood variance + π2/3) (Snijders and Bosker 1999) (see 'Multilevel analysis' in the Methodology section). 
Note: Analyses based on a sample of 12,396 respondents nested within 3,952 neighbourhoods. 
Sources: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey, 2004 and Census, 2001.