Fear of crime in natural environments from a gender perspective: the case of the “Camino de Santiago”

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to analyse the nature and magnitude of the fear of being a victim of crime among pilgrims during the “Camino de Santiago”. Specifically, this study explored the gender differences that can be observed with regard to the emotion experienced in a journey that, apart from the spiritual transcendence that it may pose to the pilgrims, is characterised by the act of entering natural spaces with very little human presence. The aim of this work was to address an underdeveloped research area in the scope of criminology and environmental psychology that, in the last two decades, has been mostly focused on analysing the fear of crime in urban spaces. The sample was constituted by 1,084 pilgrims (58.9% women and 41.1% men) aged between 18 and 75 years. The results show that women perceive the “Camino de Santiago” as more dangerous compared to men (M = 2; SD = 0.67) (t (1078) =-2.769; p=.006), and self-perceive as more vulnerable when walking it alone (𝜒 ଶ=202.816; df=2; p<.001). The results also highlight the importance of physical characteristics in terms of perspective, shelter and potential escape routes, and the influence of these variables on how the pilgrims perceive and experience the natural environment. However, both sexes showed low fear thresholds, which indicates that the “Camino de Santiago” is generally perceived as a safe journey.