Drug Abuse Violations in Communities: Community Newspapers as a Macro-Level Source of Social Control

AbstractThis study conceptualizes community newspapers as a unique community-level resource that promotes community social control. Specifically, community newspapers were hypothesized to have negative effects on drug abuse violations, both directly and indirectly, as mediated by civic engagement. Results indicate that a macro-level measure of community newspapers had an indirect negative effect on drug abuse violations through its positive effect on civic engagement. Implications are discussed for the role of community newspapers in building a healthy community.Keywordscommunity newspapers, social control, drug abuse violationsAccording to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, drug abuse violations are defined as "violations of state and local laws, spe- cifically those relating to the unlawful possession, sale, use, growing, manufacturing, and making of narcotic drugs,"1 including opium, heroin, marijuana, methadones, and barbiturates. In 2010, there were an estimated 530.81 arrests for drug abuse offenses per 100,000 population, nationwide.2 Despite recent declining trends, drug abuse vio- lations remain the highest arrest category in the United States.3Various sources of data point to noticeable county, regional, and other macro-level variations in drug abuse violations.4 One major theoretical explanation for such macro- level variations is social control or the regulatory capacity of a community to realize common ends.5 A long tradition of research has examined various forms of social control, such as neighborhood watch groups and residents' questioning suspicious per- sons, developed through social processes.6 These activities are to an important extent facilitated by resourceful relationships among residents and institutions and voluntary participation that a community can draw upon in its daily operation.7 Focusing on link- ages among social capital, community institutions, and civic engagement, a civic com- munity perspective formulated by Tolbert, Lyson, and Irwin posits that communities characterized by a strong institutional base and a voluntary culture can develop and sustain the ability to solve common problems.8Based on the literature on community journalism that identifies common themes of community newspaper content,9 Yamamoto10 recently conceptualized local mass media, particularly community newspapers, as a unique community-level property that, through patterned generation and dissemination of information, promotes social structural and cultural mechanisms tied to the regulatory capacity of a community. However, despite the empirically supported links between community newspapers and mechanisms that facilitate social control (e.g., social capital), few studies have directly examined the role of community newspapers in social control processes.11It is the goal of this paper to address this limitation. This study, based on the litera- ture on social capital, the civic community perspective, and community journalism, proposes that community newspapers are an important resource whose penetration increases the likelihood that residents are exposed to content that affects civic engage- ment and surveillance of the environment. More specifically, community newspaper penetration is posited to have indirect (as mediated by civic engagement) and direct negative effects on drug abuse violations. Findings would inform community leaders, organizations, and residents of the importance of community newspapers in effec- tively regulating drug abuse offenses.Social Control, Social Capital, and Civic EngagementIn a fundamental way, social control can be defined as the ability of a social group to regulate the behavior of its members to realize collective goods.12 This notion focuses on the voluntaristic efforts of a group to develop common values and expectations and uphold norms for behavior.13 While social control rests predominantly on normative dimensions tied to formal and informal sanctions, economic, social, institutional, and other group dimensions are equally important to sustain the ability of a group to make norms effective. …