Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

11-18-2022

Comments

Poster attached as supplemental file below

Abstract

Food insecurity is a persistent and widespread issue in the United States. Individuals who are food insecure are more likely to develop chronic diseases due to their dietary habits, which tend to consist of ultra-processed foods. For many individuals, these habits are not by choice, but are the result of a lack of access to healthy foods. Both geographical and financial access issues often lead to these unhealthy diet choices, which increase an individual’s risk of morbidity and mortality. While the issue of food insecurity is complex, it is not often observed in the context of violence. Many food insecure individuals live in low-income areas, which are also areas that tend to experience higher rates of crime. It is important that we fully understand the food environment of under-resourced communities so that we can ensure that environmental factors do not inhibit the use of health food options. The aim of this study was to analyze and describe how proximal violent crimes are to supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, and other food store types in Philadelphia county. SPSS was employed to run a statistical analysis on the Philadelphia’s food store and crime data from the timeframe of August 2018-January 2019. Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping was used to display the results. Our results found that violent crimes were significantly more common around small grocers and less common around supermarkets. Mapping our results demonstrated that small grocers and crime tended to cluster in low-income communities. Our results suggest recommendations for improving safe access to these vital food resources.

Additional Files
Diamond_Nina_poster.pptx (3908 kB)

Language

English

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