Be Afraid . . . Be Very Afraid: Factors Influencing the Fear of Victimization

Abstract

The media often portrays an inner city overcome with violence. This research investigates whether citizens are emotionally responsive to this attention, as well as the self protective measures they utilize based on where they reside. Because the press devotes so much of its media coverage to violence, the main hypothesis to be tested here is that the more one is exposed to the media, the more they will be fearful of crime. The demographic variables included in this survey will be as follows: age, gender, race, average household income, and level of education. The predictor variable is the amount of media consumed, with the dependent variable being one's level of fear of violent victimization. Conclusions were drawn from data obtained from students attending a midsized urban university (N=134) in the Midwest in order to see what impact the media has on fear. The hypothesis that high media exposure would increase levels of fear and increase precautionary measure was unsupported. However, support was found for the hypothesis that respondents who were themselves a crime victim or knew the victim of a crime are more aware of the threat of victimization. Future researchers may want to operationalize media by other means such as specifying source of media and if this influences fear of crime.