Exploring the effects of age and gender on the relationship between psychological distance and worry about crime

Abstract

Recent work has explored how psychological distance can shape individuals’ perceptions of crime risk in the absence of actual threats. However, it is not known whether age and gender, which are common correlates of fear of crime, influence the relationship between perceptions of psychological distance, and worry about crime. This study investigates whether there are differences among these demographic groups by analysing survey responses collected from N = 423 women and N = 296 men living in Queensland, Australia. Although on average women report higher levels of worry, there were no significant effects of gender or age on the relationship between psychological distance and worry about crime. Community wellbeing campaigns might not need to target different perceptions of psychological distance across audiences. Implications of these results and directions for further research are discussed.