NCJ Number
95848
Journal
Social Science Quarterly Volume: 65 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1984) Pages: 681-702
Date Published
1984
Length
22 pages
Annotation
Although they have the lowest rates of criminal victimization, females and the elderly display the highest fear.
Abstract
Sample survey data from Seattle disclose that age and sex differences in fear are largely a function of differential sensitivity to risk meaning that the relation between fear and perceived risk varies among males and females, young and old. This differential sensitivity to risk is in turn a function of age and sex-related differences in the perceived seriousness of offenses and in the nature of perceptually contemporaneous offenses. (Author abstract)