The impact of fear on young people’s mobility

Abstract

This study makes use of a dataset recently collected among young people in Stockholm, Sweden (N = 1122), to investigate the impact of fear on young people’s mobility and precautionary behaviour, after controlling for previous victimization as well as situational characteristics of daily trips. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and logistic regression models underlie the methodology of the study. Previous victimization, especially for sexual crimes, triggers precautionary behaviour among young people using trains and the metro. Signs of poorly maintained transit environments also affect young riders’ mobility patterns, as they state that they avoid particular stations or routes at particular times. Informed by principles of environmental criminology and the theory of fear of crime, the implications of the findings for both theory and practice are discussed.