Citation

Jorgensen LJ, Ellis GD, Ruddell E. Environ. Behav. 2013; 45(7): 803-820.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0013916512446334

PMID

unavailable

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.

Language: en