Sara Wieseneck, Daniel J' Kruger, Jaclyn Matney, Thomas Reischl

1
The Relationship Between Fear of Crime and a
Healthy Lifestyle in Flint, MI

• Sara Wieseneck, Daniel J. Kruger, Jaclyn Matney,
  Thomas Reischl

2
Genesee County, Michigan
3
PRC 2005 Speak to Your Health! Community Survey

• Random sample of households in Genesee County
• 20 residents per Census Tract in Flint
• 10 residents per Census Tract outside of Flint
• Telephone interviews were conducted by the
  Michigan Public Health Institute from March to
  May, 2005
• Adults ages 18 years and older randomly selected
  within households
• Response rate 15
• Final sample size 1748 residents, 992 in Flint
  and 756 Out-County
• 738 Flint residents used in this analysis (Only
  African American and White with known census
  tracts)

4
Characteristics of Sample

• 39 Census tracts
• Mean age 50.05 years
• Mean years of education 12.96 years
• 72.36 female
• 51.31 African American

5
Flint Crime Data

• Obtained by PRC from the Flint Police Department
• Crime data used from time leading up to Survey ?
  June 2004-February 2005
• Use of property crime (burglary, larceny-theft)
  and violent crime (murder, robbery, assault) as
  two separate predictors

6
Some 2005 PRC Survey Topics

• Fear of crime
• Health Related Behaviors (Fruit and Vegetable
  Intake, Amount of Vigorous and Moderate Physical
  Activity)
• Perceptions of neighborhood conditions
• Physical Health and Health Screening
• Spirituality, Religion, and Health
• Experiences of and Perceptions of Racism
• Violence, Crime, and Incarceration
• Satisfaction with various areas of life
• Social Support

7
Physical Activity Survey Questions

• 1. How many days per week do you engage in
  moderate physical activity? And
• How much total time per day do you spend doing
  moderate activities?
• 2. How many days per week do you engage in
  vigorous physical activity? And
• How much total time per day do you spend doing
  vigorous activities?

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Physical Activity

• Moderate activities walking, golfing, playing
  badminton, skateboarding
• Vigorous activities running, jumping rope,
  playing basketball, shoveling heavy snow
• Total physical activity (for each individual)
• Moderate(daysminutes)4.5 METs
  Vigorous(daysminutes)7 METs
• (MET Metabolic equivalent)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  General Physical Activities Defined by Level of
  Intensity. http//www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/physi
  cal/pdf/PA_Intensity_table_2_1.pdf
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  Physical Activity Terms. 22 May 2007.
  http//www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/physical/terms/ind
  ex.htm

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Physical Activity- Genesee County
10
Fruit and Vegetable Intake Survey Question

• Mean servings of fruit and vegetables per day.
• Mean for sample 3.024

11
Fruit and Vegetable Consumption- Genesee County
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Fear of Crime Survey Questions (4)

• 1. How fearful are you about crime in your
  neighborhood? Are you
• Not at all fearful, Not very fearful, Somewhat
  fearful, Very fearful
• 2. How safe is it to walk around alone in your
  neighborhood during the daytime? Would you say
  it is
• 3. How safe is it to walk around alone in your
  neighborhood after dark? Would you say it is
• Extremely dangerous, Somewhat dangerous, Fairly
  safe, Completely safe
• 4. Compared to other neighborhoods, the crime
  rate in my neighborhood is
• Very high, High, About the same, Low, Very low

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Fear of Crime in Genesee County
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Filling Gaps in the Literature

• Previous studies have looked at the relationship
  between physical activity and fear of crime,
  however they have only used self-reported survey
  data. This study also incorporated actual crime
  data.
• Also, very few studies have looked at the
  relationship between fear of crime (and actual
  crime) and healthy eating
• We also wanted to look at how much actual
  property and violent crime rates in an area
  affect individuals fear of crime.

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Hypothesized Conceptual Model
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Hierarchical Linear Modeling

• Census Tract level
• Violent crime
• Property crime
• Concentrated poverty
• Individual level
• Age
• Gender
• Race
• Years of education
• Fear of crime

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Findings- Physical Activity

• Physical activity increases as
• Age decreases, plt.0001
• Education decreases, p.046
• Higher for men, plt.0001
• Fear of crime increases (although confounded by
  age and gender), p.047

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Findings- Physical Activity

• Significant interaction terms-
• Concentrated poverty-Race, p.0187
• Higher Concentrated poverty, Whites w/ highest PA
• Education-Gender, p.0146
• Less educated, Males
• Education-Race, p.0099
• Less educated, Whites
• Age-Race, p.0043
• Younger, Whites
• Age-Education, p.06
• Younger, Less educated

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Findings- Fruit and Vegetable Intake

• Total fruit and vegetable intake increases as
• Age increases, plt.0001
• Education increases, p.0013
• Higher for women, plt.0001
• Concentrated poverty decreases, p.0095

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Findings- Fruits and Vegetables

• Significant interaction terms-
• Education-Race, p.0720 (approaches significance)
• More educated, Whites w/ highest FV
• Less educated, Whites w/ lowest FV

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Findings- Fear of Crime

• Fear of crime increases as
• Age decreases, p.043
• Education decreases, p.0002
• Higher for females, p.029
• Property crime increases, p.0256
• Violent crime increases, plt.0001
• Although Violent crime is strongly confounded by
  concentrated poverty.
• Concentrated poverty increases, plt.0001

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Findings- Fear of Crime

• Significant interaction terms-
• Education-Violent crime, p.0503
• More violent crime w/most fear of crime
• More educated, Less violent crime w/least fear
  of crime
• Education-Concentrated poverty, p.0213
• More educated, High concentrated poverty w/most
  fear of crime
• Property crime-Violent crime, p.0505
• Less property crime, More violent crime w/ most
  fear of crime
• Violent crime-Concentrated poverty, p.0064
• More violent crime, More concentrated poverty w/
  most fear of crime

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Also

• As violent crime increased, years of education
  decreased.
• Concentrated poverty was negatively associated
  with age and years of education. It was
  positively associated with violent and property
  crime rates.

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Strengths

• In filling gaps in the literature, this study
  suggests that there is no relationship between
  amount of physical activity and actual crime
  rates, and the relationship with fear of crime is
  confounded by demographic variables.
• Also, the hypothesis that fear of crime is
  related to healthy eating of fruits and
  vegetables was not supported by the data.
  Instead, concentrated poverty was related to
  healthy eating, furthering the notion of food
  desserts in empovished neighborhoods.
• With the third model, fear of crime was found to
  be associated with amount of actual violence in a
  census tract.

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PRC Survey Limitations

• The PRC Community Survey asked questions about
  individual behaviors, environments, and social
  factors, but does not enable causal inferences
  without additional longitudinal data
• The PRC Community Survey gathers broad basic
  information from many people, in-depth
  qualitative interviews may be needed in order to
  fully understand these issues
• Also, these findings were found using the Flint
  respondents and cannot necessarily be generalized
  to a larger group.

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In Conclusion

• Physical activity level was mostly affected by
  age, education, and gender, so appropriate
  intervention might be to have options for older
  residents, those with more education (who might
  have limited free time), and women.
• The findings also suggest that fruit and
  vegetable intake may increase if areas of high
  concentrated poverty were given more access to
  affordable produce close to their homes.
• Also, residents would feel safer in their
  neighborhood if crime was controlled. Since
  census tracts of high actual violent and property
  crime lead to increased fear of crime, focusing
  on crime prevention may help the psychological
  well-being of Flint residents in high-crime
  census tracts.