Victimization, Fear of Crime, and Perceived Risk: Testing a Vulnerability Model of Personal Control

Abstract

Perceptions of control over one's life represent a vital topic in social research: they capture the interaction between the individual and society and refiect the structures and adversities in people's lives. This study uses longitudinal data to examine how victimization, an event with established consequences for social functioning, interacts with fear of crime and perceived risk to influence sense of personal control (SPC). It posits a vulnerability model, wherein victimization affects SPC directly and amplifies the effects of fear and perceived risk. Linear regression models predicting baseline SPC, and longitudinal change in SPC, rei'eal mixed results. Victimization intensifies fear's effects at baseline, but actually increases SPC and desensitizes against perceived risk; subsample analyses suggest resilience as one explanation. Fear and perceived risk both attack SPC, with perceived risk having particularly consistent effects. Findings suggest that resilience may operate alongside cumulative adversity and that related social experiences can have divergent impacts.

Perceived insecurity and fear of crime in a city with low-crime rates

“…In this sense, despite certain critical positions (Reid & Konrad, 2004), many studies note that women, the elderly, and young people are more likely to feel fear crime than others (Amerio & Roccato, 2005;Gardner, 1990;Jackson, 2009;Lawton & Yaffe, 1980;Mesch, 2000;Saldívar, Ramos & Saltijeral, 1998;Warr, 1984 (Shippee, 2012).…”

Depression, Access Barriers, and Their Combined Associations with Unmet Health Needs among Publicly Insured Individuals in Minnesota

“…The functional disutility and clinical complexity associated with depression, when experienced in the context of existing socioeconomic disadvantages, may combine with the access barriers noted above, rendering them especially devastating in their association with unmet need. Such a pattern would, in part, mirror patterns of amplification, sensitization, vulnerability, and scarring noted in prior literature linking contextual and social-psychological phenomena (Preston, Hill, and Drevenstedt 1998;Ross, Mirowsky, and Pribesh 2001;Shippee 2012;Weinrath and Gartrell 1996).…”

Incorporating Public Insecurity Indicators: A New Approach to Measuring Social Welfare in Mexico

“…Generally, compared to those who have not suffered from crime victims of crime tend to perceive greater risk and a sense of loss of personal control (Hale, 1996;Russo et al, 2008;Shippee, 2012).…”