The effect of objectively measured crime on walking in minority adults

Purpose. Evaluate the relationship between neighborhood crime and the amount of daily walking by minority adults. Design. This was a cross-sectional study of minority adult walking behavior and crime. Setting. Oakland, California was chosen as the study area because of the substantial spatial variation in levels of criminal activity combined with detailed, information on walking trips. Participants. The study was restricted to minority adults who responded to the 2000 Bay Area Travel Survey and lived in Oakland, California (n = 359). Method. Data on leisure and utilitarian walking were collected through the 2000 Bay Area Travel Survey and combined with crime data from the Oakland Police Department. A negative binomial model was used to test if violent, Property, or quality of life crimes had significant associations with daily minutes walked, controlling for individual and neighborhood covariates. Results. The model showed a significant negative association between violent crime and minutes walked per day (b = -.07; p = .016). Neither property nor quality of life crimes were correlated with amount of walking. Conclusions. Reductions in violent crime may increase opportunities for minority residents in urban areas to participate in physical activity such as walking, thereby providing another reason to pursue anticrime measures. Urban designers' efforts to increase physical activity by improving neighborhood walkability may consider violent crime prevention in their designs.