Coping with urban crime: women's use of precautionary behaviors

This investigation examines the impact of three sets of variables, neighborhood conditions, psychological factors, and life circumstances, on women's use of behaviors designed to protect themselves from criminal victimization. Participants in the study were 299 women living in Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco. Two types of precautionary behaviors were identified: avoiding dangerous situations (e.g., by not going out alone at night) and managing risks in the face of possible danger (e.g., by asking repairmen for identification). The three sets of variables were better able to predict avoidance than risk-management behavior. Commonality analyses revealed that psychological factors uniquely accounted for the largest proportion of the variance in the use of both types of precautions. In multiple regression analyses, fear, perceived physical competence, race, and education were significant predictors of avoidance, while fear and perceptions of local social disorder had significant regression effects on risk-management. Implications of the results for research and social policies regarding the impact of crime on communities are discussed, and this area is suggested as a rich context for the exploration of styles of coping with environmental stressors.