Community Crime Patterns and Health Outcomes.

Community based research on crime has typically tried to explain the spatial distribution of crime. Crime is the dependent variable. However, the effect of neighborhood crime levels on individual behavior and health has rarely been analyzed in the criminological literature. In this presentation, four related projects that look at crime as an independent environmental variable are described. The first project analyzes the relationship between individual and community stress and the re-occurrence of breast cancer. The second project looks at crime around a woman's home address and nearby mammography clinics as a delaying factor in examinations. The third and fourth analyze the relationship between community crime patterns and outdoor exercise. The object of the presentation is not to present results, but to suggest a new area of study for Criminologists. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]