Gender Differences in Walking Behavior, Attitudes About Walking, and Perceptions of the Environment in Three Maryland Communities

Pedestrian behaviors and attitudes toward walking have recently become a focus of interest for researchers in a number of disciplines, including public health, transportation planning, and recreational studies. The potential gender differences regarding not only walking behavior but also attitudes about walking and perceptions of the environment, including safety, are of particular interest to planning researchers. To address these issues, the research design utilizes a survey instrument devised to capture respondents' perceptions about the physical environment, attitudes about walking, and self-reported pedestrian behaviors. These data were collected in three Maryland communities with different walkability and socioeconomic characteristics as part of a study to understand connections between the built environment and walking. These data are analyzed to examine how the subjective measures contribute to the understanding of gender differences in revealed pedestrian behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions. Lessons learned from this project, potential contributions to the understanding of the walking environment for both sexes, and future avenues of research are discussed.