RHP&EO is the electronic journal of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education

Who Is Afraid Of..? And Where? And Why? An Epidemiological Study On The Fear Of Violence In A Rural Area Of Sweden

Ake Lindstrom, Leif Svanstrom

Skaraborg Institute, Dept Public Health, Skovde, Sweden and Karolinska Institutet, Dept International Health & Social Medicine, Stockholm, Sweden.

INTRODUCTION: Injuries caused by violence is a growing public health problem. There is a relation, however not in detail established, between violence and fear of violence. The purpose of the study was to investigate who are reporting fear of violence, if there are differences on the municipal level of fear of violence and why.

METHOD: 800 inhabitants, 20-64 years of age, in each of the seventeen municipalities of Skaraborg county were randomly selected. The non- response on a questionnaire was 24 percent. The results were standardised for age and socio-economic group according to Mantel-Haenszels method for logistic regression. Odds ratio with 95 percent confidence intervals was calculated on the prevalence of fear of violence.

RESULTS: 17 percent of women and 2 percent of men answered that they during the last year refrained from going out because of fear of violence; 37 percent of women and three percent of men stated that they were afraid to go out. 20-34 years old showed higher prevalence of fear than other age-groups. Looking at socio-economic groups; farmers showed the lowest prevalence, students the highest. Controlling socio-economic group and age showed major differences between the municipalities; refrained from going out: from 8 to 37 percent, fear of going out from 26 to 61 percent (females). Explanations like temporary press "campaigns" on cases hit by violence can be a major explanatory factor.

CONCLUSIONS: These results leads to caution in generalising results from different geographical areas. Qualitative studies based on good quantitative epidemiological research could be an area for future development in order to deepen our understanding on violence and fear of violence.

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