Exploring the Fear of Crime Gender Paradox: a Quasi-experimental Approach

• In Event: Fear of Crime: Considering Gender and Identity

Abstract

There is a fear of crime gender paradox where women report more fear of crime than men, despite their lower risk of stranger victimisation. In two studies we examined this paradox using quasi-experimental mixed factorial designs. In Study 1 (N = 176), we developed and validated 78 images in a Crime and Threat Image Set (the CaTIS). Images were either threatening and crime-related, only threatening, only crime-related, or neutral. When men and women self-reported their fear responses, we found that women reported more fear than men, but that this was driven by threat, not by crime. This suggests that the fear of crime gender paradox is a fear gender paradox. In Study 2 (N = 427, we examined whether the paradox shifted when fear of crime was reconceptualised to reflect broader emotional responses to crime. We found that women who viewed threatening images reported larger decreases in their positive emotions, and larger increases in their negative emotions (anger and fear in particular) when compared to men. Participants who viewed crime-related images also reported more negative emotions than participants who viewed non-crime-related images, but gender bore no relationship on these emotional changes. Fear levels were also not altered.

Authors

• Michelle Sarah Noon, Swinburne University of Technology

• Jennifer L Beaudry, Swinburne University of Technology

• Ann Knowles, Swinburne University of Technology