Fear of Crime and Constrained Behavior Specifying and Estimating a Reciprocal Effects Model

189

Since the very beginnings of research on the fear of crime in the early 1970s, authors have emphasized the need for theoretical clarification of the meaning and measurement of the concept. The present article outlines a theory of fear of crime from the psychological perspective. In particular, psychological concepts of emotions, most notably the state/trait distinction and the notion of emotions as involving multiple components, are applied to fear of crime. The outcome of this conceptual clarification is a two-dimensional taxonomy which can be used to differentiate between instruments applied to assess fear of crime. .inally, taking into account the results of psychological research on survey methodology, the practical value of this taxonomy for the assessment of fear of crime is discussed.Over the past three decades, fear of crime has been a recurrent theme in public policy and academic debate. The discussion has frequently been prompted by empirical research on fear of crime; the body of literature has grown substantially in recent years (see Hale 1996, for a review), and only lately has a collection of classic articles on fear of crime been published (Ditton and .arrall 2000). Although the results of so-called crime surveys suggest that fear of crime is a prevalent social problem, the need for a theoretical clarification of the meaning and measurement of fear of crime has been emphasized repeatedly (e.g. .arrall et al. 1997;Taylor and Hale 1986;Thompson et al. 1992). The perspective taken here is based on the hypothesis that previous interpretations of empirical results lack the theoretical background necessary for sensitive conclusions to be drawn. In other words, we argue that empirical data on fear of crime are often seen through the wrong spectacles .While the investigation of fear of crime has a long tradition in criminology, the investigation of fear has an even longer tradition in psychology. The purpose of this paper is to render the findings of psychological research usable for work on fear of crime. Accordingly, psychological concepts of emotions, notably the state/trait distinction and the notion of emotions as involving multiple components, will be applied to fear of crime, thus providing the outlines of a psychological conception of fear of crime.Our discussion proceeds in two major steps. In the first step, we investigate the conceptual structure of fear of crime. We start by focusing on the conceptual and empirical links between the fear of crime as a state on the one hand, and as a disposition on the other. Recent psychological approaches consider emotions to be affective states characterized by responses that include physiological, behavioural-expressive and subjective facets. The state of fear of crime will thus be assumed to be multidimensional, 600

Section: The Ear Of Crimementioning

confidence: 99%

The Psychology of Fear of Crime. Conceptual and Methodological Perspectives

Gabriel

Greve²

2003

189

“…Hearing footsteps, my heart starts pounding, and because I cant stop my heart racing, my fear intensifies even further). As such, positive or negative escalation loops are conceptually coherent (and thus empirically possible, De.ronzo 1979;Liska et al 1988;Rosenbaum and Heath 1990;Vander Ven 1998). This has an ambiguous effect upon precautionary measures: .or instance, many underground car parks now reserve a number of parking spaces for women.…”

Section: The Ear Of Crimementioning

confidence: 99%

The Psychology of Fear of Crime. Conceptual and Methodological Perspectives

Gabriel

Greve²

2003

102

Since the very beginnings of research on the fear of crime in the early 1970s, authors have emphasized the need for theoretical clarification of the meaning and measurement of the concept. The present article outlines a theory of fear of crime from the psychological perspective. In particular, psychological concepts of emotions, most notably the state/trait distinction and the notion of emotions as involving multiple components, are applied to fear of crime. The outcome of this conceptual clarification is a two-dimensional taxonomy which can be used to differentiate between instruments applied to assess fear of crime. .inally, taking into account the results of psychological research on survey methodology, the practical value of this taxonomy for the assessment of fear of crime is discussed.Over the past three decades, fear of crime has been a recurrent theme in public policy and academic debate. The discussion has frequently been prompted by empirical research on fear of crime; the body of literature has grown substantially in recent years (see Hale 1996, for a review), and only lately has a collection of classic articles on fear of crime been published (Ditton and .arrall 2000). Although the results of so-called crime surveys suggest that fear of crime is a prevalent social problem, the need for a theoretical clarification of the meaning and measurement of fear of crime has been emphasized repeatedly (e.g. .arrall et al. 1997;Taylor and Hale 1986;Thompson et al. 1992). The perspective taken here is based on the hypothesis that previous interpretations of empirical results lack the theoretical background necessary for sensitive conclusions to be drawn. In other words, we argue that empirical data on fear of crime are often seen through the wrong spectacles.While the investigation of fear of crime has a long tradition in criminology, the investigation of fear has an even longer tradition in psychology. The purpose of this paper is to render the findings of psychological research usable for work on fear of crime. Accordingly, psychological concepts of emotions, notably the state/trait distinction and the notion of emotions as involving multiple components, will be applied to fear of crime, thus providing the outlines of a psychological conception of fear of crime.Our discussion proceeds in two major steps. In the first step, we investigate the conceptual structure of fear of crime. We start by focusing on the conceptual and empirical links between the fear of crime as a state on the one hand, and as a disposition on the other. Recent psychological approaches consider emotions to be affective states characterized by responses that include physiological, behavioural-expressive and subjective facets. The state of fear of crime will thus be assumed to be multidimensional, 600

“…To some extent the curbing of physical and social activities (cf. Liska et al, 1988;Foster & Giles-Corti, 2008;Taylor et al, 2009) helped explain the link between worry about crime and health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Health and Fear of Crime: A Prospective Cohort Study

Jackson¹,

Stafford²

2009

163

103

Public insecurities about crime are widely assumed to erode individual well-being and community cohesion. Yet robust evidence on the link between worry about crime and health is surprisingly scarce. This paper draws on data from a prospective cohort study (the Whitehall II study) to show a strong statistical effect of mental health and physical functioning on worry about crime. Combining with existing evidence, we suggest a feedback model where worry about crime harms health, which in turn serves to heighten worry about crime. We conclude with the idea that, while fear of crime may express a whole set of social and political anxieties, there is a core to worry about crime that is implicated in real cycles of decreased health and perceived vulnerability to victimization. The challenge for future study is to integrate core aspects of the everyday experience of fear of crime with the more layered and expressive features of this complex social phenomenon. [158 words]