Fear of crime in Brisbane city: revisiting the importance of ‘context’ in the development of fear of crime

Psychological distance and fear of crime: Towards a new understanding of risk perception formation

“…Future research may wish to consider using an item that asks participants whether they believe that they will fall victim to crime in their current location to avoid manipulating spatial distance while retaining the egocentric point of reference. This is also in line with previous fear of crime research, which asks participants to estimate their risk of becoming a victim of crime in their immediate environment (Chataway et al, 2017; Chataway & Mellberg, 2021; Engström & Kronkvist, 2021; Irvin-Erickson et al, 2020; Solymosi et al, 2015).…”

“…This demonstrates that the items contained in the worry, temporal distance, spatial distance, social distance and hypothetical distance scales were internally consistent. Coinciding with previous fear of crime research conducted in Australia (e.g., Chataway & Mellberg, 2021;Xiong et al, 2017), participants reported relatively low levels of worry about crime (M = 2.1; SD = 0.7). Tables 2 and 3.…”

“…Spatial distance, although correlated with worry in the expected direction, did not predict worry at a statistically significant level. It is unclear why this is the case, given previous fear of crime research has identified the importance of perceptions of space and place for influencing individual's worry about crime and risk perception (Chataway & Mellberg, 2021;Irvin-Erickson et al, 2020;Solymosi et al, 2015). Scholars such as Chataway et al, (2017) and Engström and Kronkvist (2021) have used surveys delivered via smartphones to ask participants about their level of worry about and perceived risk of becoming a victim of crime in their current location.…”

“…where 1 = Not at all worried; 2 = A little bit worried; 3 = Fairly worried; 4 = Very worried. This intensity measure of worry has been validated across several geographical contexts including in the United States (Brunton- Smith & Sturgis, 2011;Scarborough et al, 2010), the United Kingdom (Gouseti, 2016;Jackson & Gray, 2010) and in Australia (Chataway & Hart, 2016;Chataway & Mellberg, 2021). Intensity measures of worry are preferred over other types of worry questions, such as frequency questions, because they do not use spatial or temporal reference points (i.e., in your neighbourhood, over the last month, etc.)…”