Perceived Risk versus Fear of Crime: Empirical Evidence of Conceptually Distinct Reactions in Survey Data

The conceptualization and measurement of fear of crime have received considerable attention in the research literature. Nevertheless, most sample surveys use indicators that only tap a general, cognitive assessment of safety — assumed to represent fear of violence. This article examines whether there are conceptually and empirically distinct dimensions of fear of crime by comparing the micro- and macrolevel antecedents of such a general, cognitive “fear” — which we call “perceived risk” — with those for a more emotionally based, burglary-specific fear. Hierarchical logistic regression models for both types of fear are presented. Some similarities were found between fear and risk in terms of various predictors, but results generally provide further empirical evidence that the two constructs are quite distinct. At the individual-level, the effect of gender is different across models, and routine-activities variables are somewhat better predictors of burglary-specific fear in comparison to risk perception. At the contextual level, neighborhood integration serves to diminish respondents' perceptions of neighborhood danger, yet this variable is positively related to burglary-specific fear.