Fear of Crime in Time and Place: Developing and Testing a New Momentary Social-Psychological Model of Victimisation Worry

Abstract

Scholars have studied fear of crime for many years, with a number of predictors of crime fear identified. Despite the growing body of fear of crime literature, the measurements, methods, and theories currently used to examine fear of crime are in need of significant innovation. Specifically, scholars continue to rely on single item measures to gauge fear of crime, ignoring its multidimensionality. Moreover, existing methods used to capture fear of crime and risk have restricted researchers’ ability to examine its spatio-temporal features, thereby preventing the development of momentary models of fear of crime. The present dissertation reconceptualises the quantitative study of fear of crime by: (a) testing alternative measures of fear of crime; (b) introducing novel methods used to collect context-dependent information about fear of crime; and (c) developing new theoretical models of fear of crime. To achieve these goals, three studies were conducted and included in the current dissertation by series of publications. The current research was guided by an overarching research question: How can we better understand fear of crime and perceived victimisation experiences in time and place using alternative measures of crime fear, innovative technologies, and momentary models of victimisation worry? The first study (Chapter 2) evaluated alternative measures of fear of crime in the Australian context with a random sample of Gold Coast residents (N = 713). In this study, alternative measures and an established model of victimisation worry developed by Jackson (2005) were used to test fear of crime. According to this established model, fear of crime comprises five distinct dimensions of victimisation worry: frequency of worry, perceptions of the likelihood of victimisation risk, perceptions of the consequences of victimisation experience, perceived levels of control over victimisation and beliefs about the prevalence of crime. These five distinct dimensions are shaped by individuals’ perceptions of the physical and social environment. Data collected from residents indicated that these alternative measures of victimisation worry had acceptable scaling properties, supporting their crosscultural validity. Provided with the knowledge that these measures were valid and reliable in the Australian context, the next step of this research was to examine what new knowledge could be produced from the victimisation worry model. Specifically, data from Study 1 were assessed in Chapters 3 and 4 to show how the model could be used to provide new insights into current issues related to fear of crime. Moreover, results presented in these chapters indicated that the model of victimisation worry could be used to explain individual differences in fear of crime when considering awareness of community crime prevention programs underway in a neighbourhood (Chapter 3) and gender (Chapter 4). Collectively, results from the first study suggest that alternative measures of victimisation worry capture the complex affective and cognitive components of fear of crime and can be used to explain individual-level variability in fear of crime. Because this model was deemed reliable and could be used to understand reactions to crime and disorder, the remaining studies of this dissertation focused on how researchers could advance the victimisation worry model by (a) collecting more ecologically valid data about fear of crime experienced in the proximate environment; and (b) extending the original model to a more process oriented momentary model that considers place, time, and psychological state. The second study (Chapter 5) expanded the alternative measures of fear of crime replicated in Study 1 by exploring whether mobile technology could be leveraged to collect meaningful data about context-dependent fear of crime. In this study, a new set of data was collected from college students (N = 20) living on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia, using their mobile devices. Results of the pilot study showed that measures of victimisation worry were reliable when administered via smartphones. Moreover, hypothesised connections between these measures were supported and in the implied directions. Provided with the knowledge that more ecologically valid information about the various dimensions of fear of crime could be derived from mobile technology, the final study of this dissertation introduced and tested a new momentary model of victimisation worry that was guided by the original process model tested in Chapters 2 through 5. The final study (Chapter 6) enhanced the knowledge informed by Studies 1 and 2, by developing the new momentary model of victimisation worry. In addition to momentary measures of victimisation worry, questions about momentary psychological state were included in the model and their influence on individuals’ perceptions of the physical and social environment were examined. A new set of data was collected and analysed from mobile initiated ecological momentary assessments (N = 499) from young adults living in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Results presented in Chapter 6 suggested that the new momentary model of victimisation worry could explain key relationships between theoretical predictors of fear of crime. For example, momentary worry about crime was shaped by perceptions of immediate risk, perceptions of disorder and lack of community cohesion, and negative affectivity. Collectively, the three studies presented in this dissertation by series of publications make a significant contribution to our existing empirical and theoretical knowledge by advancing the measurement, methods, and theories/models used to currently examine fear of crime. Each study builds off the previous, with new measurement, methodological, and theoretical insights into fear of crime introduced in each chapter. The dissertation concludes with a discussion and synthesis of the overall research findings, limitations of the research, and implications for future fear of crime research in Chapter 7.