%0 Journal Article
%A Durán, Mar
%A Pasca García, Laura
%T Fear of crime in natural environments from a gender perspective: the case of the “Camino de Santiago”
%D 2025
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/124421
%X The main objective of this study was to analyse the nature and magnitude ofthe fear of being a victim of crime among pilgrims during the “Camino deSantiago”. Specifically, this study explored the gender differences that can beobserved with regard to the emotion experienced in a journey that, apart fromthe spiritual transcendence that it may pose to the pilgrims, is characterised bythe act of entering natural spaces with very little human presence. The aim ofthis work was to address an underdeveloped research area in the scope ofcriminology and environmental psychology that, in the last two decades, hasbeen mostly focused on analysing the fear of crime in urban spaces. The samplewas constituted by 1,084 pilgrims (58.9% women and 41.1% men) agedbetween 18 and 75 years. The results show that women perceive the “Caminode 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(𝜒ଶ=202.816; df=2; p<.001). The results also highlight the importance ofphysical characteristics in terms of perspective, shelter and potential escaperoutes, and the influence of these variables on how the pilgrims perceive andexperience the natural environment. However, both sexes showed low fearthresholds, which indicates that the “Camino de Santiago” is generallyperceived as a safe journey.
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