Fear of crime, personality and trait emotions: An empirical study

Abstract

In recent years, scientific research has neglected the importance of personality and trait emotions in explaining fear of crime. Through a survey administered to 205 individuals, this study explored the relationship between individual variables and abstract fear of crime, perception of victimization risk (cognitive dimension), and behavioral expressions. A positive correlation between neuroticism (a personality dimension) and the abstract fear of crime was observed but not with the cognitive and behavioral dimensions. It was also found that trait fear emotion correlated only with the abstract fear of crime. Contrary to what was hypothesized, social desirability was positively correlated with abstract fear of crime, cognitive dimensions and behavioral dimensions in both men and women. Lastly, regression models revealed that distinct variables explaining each of the fear of crime dimensions exist. The implications of the findings are discussed herein.