Perception of safety has been reported as a factor that can impact the walking behaviour of older adults. This paper aimed to investigate the association between the Perception of crime, traffic and walking behaviour of older adults in a small city in China. The subjective method of the questionnaire was used to collect the data on Perception of traffic, crime and walking activities in ChenZhou. The multiple regression analysis methods was used to test the relationship between the perception of traffic, perception of crime and walking activities of seniors. The result showed that perception of traffic was positively related to total walking and recreational walking. In contrast, perception of crime was found to be negatively associated with recreational walking, even though the correlations were very weak. No relationship was found between transportation walking and safety. And there was no relationship between perception of crime and total walking behaviour. Although the result of this study demonstrated that there was a weak positive relationship between safety and walking of seniors, it still cannot ignore the perception of traffic as it was an essential factor in increasing the total walking and recreational walking. And perception of crime can decrease recreational walking.
Carl, P. (2016). Health Matters: There’s never been a better time to promote active travel. Retrieved from Public Health England website:
https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2016/08/30/health-matters-theres-never-been-a-better-time-to-promote-active-travel/
Cerin, E., Lee, K. yiu, Barnett, A., Sit, C. H. P., Cheung, M. chin, Chan, W. man, & Johnston, J. M. (2013). Walking for transportation in Hong Kong Chinese urban elders: A cross-sectional study on what destinations matter and when. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 10, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-10-78
Cerin, E., Sit, C. H. P., Cheung, M. chin, Ho, S. yin, Lee, L. chun J., & Chan, W. man. (2010). Reliable and valid NEWS for Chinese seniors: Measuring perceived neighborhood attributes related to walking. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 7(1), 84. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-7-84
Chen, T. A., Lee, J. S., Kawakubo, K., Watanabe, E., Mori, K., Kitaike, T., & Akabayashi, A. (2013). Features of perceived neighborhood environment associated with daily walking time or habitual exercise: Differences across gender, age, and employment status in a community-dwelling population of Japan. Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, 18(5), 368–376. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12199-013-0334-x
ChenZhou Bureau of Statistics. (2021). STAISTICAL YEARBOOK OF CHENZHOU. CHENZHOU.
Corseuil Giehl, M. W., Hallal, P. C., Brownson, R. C., & D’Orsi, E. (2017). Exploring Associations between Perceived Measures of the Environment and Walking among Brazilian Older Adults. Journal of Aging and Health, 29(1), 45–67.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264315624904
Foster, S., Giles-Corti, B., & Knuiman, M. (2014). Does Fear of Crime Discourage Walkers? A Social-Ecological Exploration of Fear As a Deterrent to Walking. Environment and Behavior, 46(6), 698–717. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916512465176
Giles-Corti, B., Cutt, H., Timperio, A., Pikora, T. J., Bull, F. L., Knuiman, M., Bulsara, M., Niel, V. K. S. T. (2006). Development of a reliable measure of walking within and outside the local neighborhood: RESIDE’s neighborhood physical activity questionnaire. Preventive Medicine, 42, 455–459.
Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining Sample Size for Research Activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001316447003000308
Lee, H. (2016). Examining neighborhood influences on leisure-time walking in older Korean adults using an extended theory of planned behavior. Landscape and Urban Planning, 148, 51–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.12.011
Lee, H. S., & Park, E. Y. (2015). Associations of neighborhood environment and walking in Korean elderly women: A comparison between urban and rural dwellers. Asian Women, 31(4), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.14431/aw.2015.12.31.4.1
Macrotrends. (2022). China Crime Rate & Statistics 1995-2022. Retrieved from Macrotrends website: https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/CHN/china/crime-rate-statistics
Maisel, J. L. (2016). Impact of older adults’ neighborhood perceptions on walking behavior. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 24(2), 247–255.
https://doi.org/10.1123/japa.2014-0278
Public Health England. (2017). 10 minutes brisk walking each day in mid-life for health benefits and towards achieving physical activity recommendations. Evidence summary. In PHE publications. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/everybody-active-every-day-a-framework-to-embed-physical-activity-into-daily-life
Salvo, G., Lashewicz, B. M., Doyle-Baker, P. K., & McCormack, G. R. (2018). Neighbourhood built environment influences on physical activity among adults: A systematized review of qualitative evidence. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(5). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050897
Van Cauwenberg, J., Clarys, P., De Bourdeaudhuij, I., Van Holle, V., Verté, D., De Witte, N., … Deforche, B. (2012). Physical environmental factors related to walking and cycling in older adults: The Belgian aging studies. BMC Public Health, 12(1), 142. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-142
Wang, Z., & Shepley, M. M. C. (2018). Can aging-in-place be promoted by the built environment near home for physical activity: a case study of non-Hispanic White elderly in Texas. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 33(4), 749–766. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-017-9584-z
WHO. (2017). Towards a Decade of Healthy Ageing. Retrieved from
http://who.int/ageing/WHO-ALC-10-priorities.pdf?ua=1
Zandieh, R., Martinez, J., Flacke, J., Jones, P., & Van Maarseveen, M. (2016). Older adults’ outdoor walking: Inequalities in neighbourhood safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetics. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(12), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13121179.
In-Text Citation: (Li & Misnan, 2022)
To Cite this Article: Li, J., & Misnan, S. H. B. (2022). The Relationship between Safety and Walking Behavior of Older Adults in China. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences. 12(6), 1590– 1597.
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
