Jorgensen, L. J., Ellis, G. D., & Ruddell, E.
APA
Jorgensen, L. J., Ellis, G. D., & Ruddell, E. (2013). Fear perceptions in public parks: Interactions of environmental concealment, the presence of people recreating, and gender. Environment and Behavior, 45(7), 803–820. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916512446334
Keywords
Community Parks
,
Environmental Cues
,
Fear Of Crime
,
Gender
,
Social Cues
Abstract
This research examined the effect of concealment (environmental cues), presence or absence of people recreating (social cues), and gender on individuals’ fear of crime in a community park setting. Using a 7-point single- item indicator, 732 participants from two samples (540 park visitors and 192 college students) rated their estimates of fear of crime to 24 photographic representations of a community park. All three, two-factor interaction effects were significant in the park visitor sample, but in the student sample, only the Presence of People Recreating × Gender effect was significant. These results suggest that social and environmental cues may jointly affect fear experiences and that the presence of other people recreating in a park environment and the gender of an individual may influence fear of crime when recreating alone in a park setting. Implications include design and management techniques that promote safe park environments.
Main finding
In this study, park visitors and university students viewing images of parks rated higher levels of fear when (a) participants were women, (b) concealment in the park was higher, and (c) other people were not present in the image, although effect sizes varied considerably for main effects between students and park visitors. The highest levels of fear were associated with areas where no other people were recreating. These results indicate that, at least in terms of perceptions of fear based on images, a combination of factors relating to gender, physical attributes, and presence of other people influence fear of crime.
Description of method used in the article
Park visitors (n = 540) and university students (n = 192) viewed images of a park with different conditions (concealment: low/high, presence of others: present/absent) and rated their level of fear of crime in the pictured area.
Verdict
Of some practical use if combined with other research