1. 18th Conference of the International Association for People-Environment Studies (IAPS, Wien 7-10 July, 2004) SENSE OF SAFETY AND PERCEPTION OF LIFE ENVIRONMENT: THE PRE-ADOLESCENTS AND THEIR PARENTS PERCEPTION Key words: sense of safety, urban environment, well-being Laura Migliorini, University of Genoa, Department of Anthropological Sciences, Italy. Antonella Piermari, University of Genoa, Department of Anthropological Sciences, Italy. Anna Zunino, University of Genoa, Department of Anthropological Sciences, Italy.

2. IAPS 2004 2 SUMMARYSUMMARY  Introduction and literature review  Aims and method  Data and results  Discussion and conclusions

3. IAPS 2004 3 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

4. IAPS 2004 4 SAFETY NEEDS

5. IAPS 2004 5  Importance to study people well-being related to social- physical environment  Quality environment perception as summarizing variable to measure the impact of relationship between person and environment  Moser’s model of unsafety: affective, cognitive and behavioral components  Missing of accurate definition of sense of safety/unsafety  Missing of theoretical modeling to understand the relationship among the sense of safety/unsafety construct and other relevant variables included in this research field  Adolescent life-time is not very investigated LITERATURE REVIEW

6. IAPS 2004 6 RESEARCH AIM AND METHOD The present study explores the sense of safety and unsafety perceived in the life environment by pre-adolescents and their parents, and inquire adults subjective well-being and urban quality perception. 1° section: intervention carried out in the schools with pre-adolescents (11-14 years old). We’ve worked with 163 students, proposing them a group activity in order to inquire their relationships with urban environment, and to collect relevant data about their sense of safety. 2° section: collection of the same kind of data but coming from the pre- adolescents parents living in the same residential area. We asked parents to fill in a questionnaire about sense of safety, subjective well- being, urban quality perception.

7. IAPS 2004 7 PRE-ADOLESCENTS MEASURE  Demographic information  Questions about autonomy and sense of safety/unsafety in the residential area:  Complete sentences about sense of safety  Complete sentences about sense of unsafety  Tell about three safe place where you go around  List the features of those places  Which kind of people make you feel less safe?  Which kind of urban elements make you feel more safe?

8. IAPS 2004 8  Demographic information  Questions about sense of safety/unsafety in the residential area (the same questions of adolescents for themselves and for their perception about their children)  Psychological Well-being Scale (Ryff and Keyes, 1995)  Perceived Quality of Residential Environment Scale (Bonaiuto, Aiello, Perugini, Bonnes, Ercolani, 1999) PARENTS MEASURE

9. IAPS 2004 9 SUBJECTS - PRE-ADOLESCENTS (n.163)

10. IAPS 2004 10 3° year 2° year 1° year Who do you go to school with? Can you go around the suburb alone? 100%-- 97.7%2.3% 80.7%19.3% YESNO 71.2%22.7%6.1% 50.0%40.0%10.0% 50.8%41.0%8.2 % alonefriendsrelatives/adults PRE-ADOLESCENTS AUTONOMY

11. IAPS 2004 11 SUBJECTS - PARENTS (n.126)

12. IAPS 2004 12 PRE-ADOLESCENTS SENSE OF SAFETY “I feel safe in my suburb if……”

13. IAPS 2004 13 PARENTS SENSE OF SAFETY - FOR THEMSELVES “I feel safe in my suburb if……”

14. IAPS 2004 14 PARENTS SENSE OF SAFETY - FOR THEIR CHILDREN “My son/daughter feels safe in his/her suburb if……”

15. IAPS 2004 15 PRE-ADOLESCENTS SENSE OF UNSAFETY “I feel unsafe in my suburb if……”

16. IAPS 2004 16 PARENTS SENSE OF UNSAFETY - FOR THEMSELVES “I feel unsafe in my suburb if……”

17. IAPS 2004 17 PARENTS SENSE OF UNSAFETY - FOR THEIR CHILDREN “My son/daughter feels unsafe in his/her suburb if……”

18. IAPS 2004 18 PRE-ADOLESCENTS FEATURES OF SAFE PLACES Which elements of three places you’ve indicated do you make feel safe in?

19. IAPS 2004 19 FEATURES OF SAFE PLACES - PARENTS FOR THEMSELVES Which elements of three places you’ve indicated do you make feel safe in?

20. IAPS 2004 20 FEATURES OF SAFE PLACES - PARENTS FOR THEIR CHILDREN Which elements of three places you’ve indicated do your son/daughter make feel safe in?

21. IAPS 2004 21 CONCLUSIONSCONCLUSIONS  Personal sense of safety: differences between pre- adolescents and parents (relations vs. structural elements)  Place safety: homogeneity of perception between pre- adolescents and parents (social relations)  Investigation on changes along life-span about sense of safety/unsafety  Analysis of very different kind of suburb in terms of structural features FUTURE RESEARCH

22. IAPS 2004 22 REFERENCESREFERENCES BONAIUTO M., AIELLO A.., PERUGINI M., BONNES M., ERCOLANI A.P. (1999), Multidimensional perception of residential environment quality and neighbourhood attachment in the urban environment, “Journal of Environmental Psychology”, 19, 331-352. BONNES M., BONAIUTO M. (1996), Multiplace analysis of the urban environment. A comparison between a large and small Italian city, “Environment and Behaviour”, 28, 6, 699-747. CANTER, D. (1977), The psychology of place, Architectural Press, London. MOSER, G. (1995), Gli stress urbani, LED, Milano. OSTROM C., LERNER R., FREEL M. (1995), Building the capacity of youth and families through University-Community collaboration: the Development-In-Context Evaluation (DICE) Model, “Journal of Adolescent Research”, 10, 4, 427-448. PERKINS D., FLORIN P., RICH R., CHAVIS D. (1990), Participation and the social and physical environment of residential blocks: Crime and community context, “American Journal of Community Psychology”, 18, 83-115. PERKINS D., MEEKS J., TAYLOR R. (1992), The physical environment of street blocks and resident perception of crime and disorder: Implications for theory and measurement, “Journal of Environmental Psychology”, 12, 21-34. RYFF C., KEYES C. (1995), The structure of psychological well-being revisited, “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology”, 69, 4, 719-727.

23. IAPS 2004 23 THEORY OF PLACE (CANTER) PLACES

24. IAPS 2004 24 DANGEROUS PEOPLE “Valuate from 1 to 7 the level of influence on your sense of unsafety”

25. IAPS 2004 25 POSITIVE STRUCTURAL FEATURES “Valuate from 1 to 7 the level of influence on your sense of safety”

26. IAPS 2004 26 PERCEIVED QUALITY OF RESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENT SCALE 1.043.95residential attacchment.693.52context features.663.81 social relations features.633.63 architectural / town- planning features D.SMP. Q. R. E 0.84.5personal growth 0.94.8autonomy 0.84.0 environmental mastery 1.04.2self-acceptance.94.3positive relations 1.063.9purpose in life D.SMP. W-B PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING