Skip to main content
Log in

Fear of crime in old age: precautious behaviour and its relation to situational fear

European Journal of Ageing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study aimed to provide further insight into the question of why older adults show a higher precautionary behaviour regarding crime (behavioural fear), although they do not estimate their victimisation risk as higher than young adults and they do not experience fear more often. In two cross-sectional studies, the hypothesis was tested that the age-related increase in precautionary behaviour is an expression of higher dispositional fear with age. The vignette technique was employed to induce situational fear of crime across various situations as a proxy for dispositional fear. In contrast to the hypothesis, in Study 1 (young: 18–30 years, N = 179 vs. middle-aged: 50–64 years, N = 106), only younger adults reported higher situational fear in two vignettes. In Study 2 (young: 18–30 years, N = 129 vs. young-old: 65–84 years, N = 114), younger adults indicated higher situational fear again; however, young-old adults reported higher situational fear in other vignettes. The findings suggest that there is no general increase in the intensity of situational fear of crime with age and thus no age-related change in dispositional fear. Moreover, situational fear did not serve as mediator in the relationship between age and precautionary behaviour. Alternative accounts for the increase in behavioural fear of crime are discussed as well as emotion regulation mechanisms in response to the induction method.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andrade EB, Cohen JB (2007) On the consumption of negative feelings. J Consumer Res 34:283–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaudreau SA, MacKay A, Storandt M (2009) Older adults’ responses to emotional stimuli: a cautionary note. Exp Aging Res 35(2):235–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bilsky W, Pfeiffer C, Wetzels P (eds) (1993) Fear of crime and criminal victimization. Enke, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  • Boers K, Kurz P (1997) Kriminalitätseinstellungen, soziale Milieus und sozialer Umbruch [Attitudes towards crime, social milieus, and social change]. In: Boers K, Gutsche G, Sessar K (eds) Sozialer Umbruch und Kriminalität in Deutschland [Social change and crime in Germany]. Leske + Budrich, Opladen, pp 187–253

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Brandtstädter J, Wentura D (1995) Adjustment to shifting possibility frontiers in later life: complementary adaptive modes. In: Dixon RA, Bäckman L (eds) Compensating for psychological deficits and declines: managing losses and promoting gains. Erlbaum, Mahwah, pp 83–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunton-Smith I, Sturgis P (2011) Do neighborhoods generate fear of crime? An empirical test using the British Crime Survey. Criminol Interdiscip J 49(2):331–369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cacioppo JT, Berntson GG, Bechara A, Tranel D, Hawkley LC (2011) Could an aging brain contribute to subjective well being? The value added by a social neuroscience perspective. In: Tadorov A, Fiske ST, Prentice D (eds) Social neuroscience: toward understanding the underpinnings of the social mind. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Carstensen LL, Pasupathi M, Mayr U, Nesselroade JR (2000) Emotional experience in everyday life across the adult life span. J Pers Soc Psychol 79:644–655

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chadee D, Ditton D (2003) Are older people most afraid of crime? Revisiting Ferraro and LaGrange in Trinidad. Br J Criminol 43(2):417–433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charles ST, Reynolds CA, Gatz M (2001) Age-related differences and change in positive and negative affect over 23 years. J Pers Soc Psychol 80:136–151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clemente F, Kleimann MB (1976) Fear of crime among the elderly: an exploratory study. Br J Criminol 22:49–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen J (1988) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences, 2nd edn. Erlbaum, Hillsdale

    Google Scholar 

  • Ditton J, Farrall S (2000) The fear of crime. Ashgate, Aldershot

    Google Scholar 

  • Dymond S, Roche B (2009) A contemporary behavior analysis of anxiety and avoidance. Behav Analyst 32(1):7–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Englert C, Bertrams A, Dickhäuser O (2011) Entwicklung der Fünf-Item-Kurzskala STAI-SKD zur Messung von Zustandsangst [Development of a 5-Item-Short scale STAI-SKD to measure state fear]. Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie 19:173–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eve SB (1985) Criminal victimization and fear of crime among the non-institutionalized elderly in the United States: a critique of the empirical research literature. Victimology 10:397–408

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrall S, Gadd D (2004) The frequency of the fear of crime. Br J Criminol 44(1):127–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farrall S, Lee M (eds) (2008) Fear of crime: critical voices in an age of anxiety. Routledge-Cavendish, New York

  • Farrall S, Bannister J, Ditton J, Gilchrist E (2000) Social psychology and the fear of crime. Re-examining a speculative model. Br J Criminol 40:399–413

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferraro KF (1995) Fear of crime, interpreting victimisation risk. State University of New York Press, Albany

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferraro KF, LaGrange RL (1987) The measurement of fear of crime. Sociol Inq 52:70–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferraro KF, LaGrange RL (1992) Are older people most afraid of crime? Reconsidering age differences in fear of victimization. J Gerontol Soc Sci 47:233–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher BS, Nasar JL (1992) Fear of crime in relation to three exterior site features: prospect, refuge, and escape. Environ Behav 24(1):35–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher S, Allan A, Allan MM (2004) Exploratory study to examine the impact of television reports of prison escapes on fear of crime, operationalised as state anxiety. Aust J Psychol 56(3):181–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freund AM, Ebner NC (2005) The aging self: shifting from promoting gains to balancing losses. In: Greve W, Rothermund K, Wentura D (eds) The adaptive self: personal continuity and intentional self-development. Hogrefe & Huber Publishers, Ashland, pp 185–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabriel U, Greve W (2003) Fear of crime. towards a psychological approach. Br J Criminol 43:600–614

    Google Scholar 

  • Garofalo J (1979) Victimization and the fear of crime. J Res Crime Delinquency 16:80–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray E, Jackson J, Farrall SD (2008) Researching everyday emotions: towards a multi-disciplinary investigation of the fear of crime. In: Kury H (ed) Fear of crime—punitivity: new developments in theory and research. Crime and crime policy, 3rd edn. Universitätsverlag Brockmeyer, Bochum, pp 3–24

  • Greve W (1998) Fear of crime among the elderly: foresight, not fright. Int Rev Victimol 5:277–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greve W (2000) Furcht vor Kriminalität im Alter. Befunde und Überlegungen zu einer Schnittstelle zwischen Gerontopsychologie und Viktimologie [Fear of crime in old age. Findings and thoughts about an intersection between gerontopsychology and victimology]. Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie 32:123–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greve W (2004) Fear of crime among older and younger adults: paradoxes and other misconceptions. In: Albrecht H-J, Serassis T, Kania H (eds) Images of crime II. Max-Planck-Institut für Internationales und vergleichendes Strafrecht, Freiburg, pp 167–186 (deutsche Fassung in: M Walter, H Kania, H-J Albrecht (Hrsg) Alltagsvorstellungen der Kriminalität (S. 249–270). Münster: Lit.)

  • Greve W, Hosser D, Wetzels P (1996) Bedrohung durch Kriminalität im Alter. Kriminalitätsfurcht älterer Menschen als Brennpunkt einer Gerontoviktimologie [Threatened by crime in old age. Fear of crime in old age as focus of gerontovictimology]. Nomos, Baden–Baden

  • Grühn D, Kotter-Grühn D, Röcke C (2010) Discrete affects across the adult lifespan: evidence for multidimensionality and multidirectionality of affective experiences in young, middle-aged and older adults. J Res Pers 44(4):492–500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Häfele J, Lüdemann C (2006) “Incivilities” und Kriminalitätsfurcht im urbanen Raum. Eine Untersuchung durch Befragung und Beobachtung [‘Incivilities’ and fear of crime in urban space. A survey and observation study]. Kriminologisches J 38(4):273–291

  • Hale C (1996) Fear of crime: a review of the literature. Int Rev Victimol 4:79–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hermann D (2008) Zur Wirkung von Kommunaler Kriminalprävention. Eine Evaluation des „Heidelberger Modells“[About the effectiveness of communal crime prevention. An evaluation of the ‘Heidelberg Model’]. Trauma und Gewalt 2:220–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson J (2009) A psychological perspective on vulnerability in the fear of crime. Psychol Crime Law 15(4):365–390

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson J, Gray E (2010) Functional fear and public insecurities about crime. Br J Criminol 50(1):1–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson J, Farrall S, Hough M, Bradford B (2008) Public insecurities about crime: a review of the British research literature. Working paper

  • Jansson K (2007) British crime survey—measuring crime for 25 years. Home Office, London

    Google Scholar 

  • John OP, Gross JJ (2004) Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: personality processes, individual differences, and lifespan development. J Pers 72:1301–1334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jorgensen LJ, Ellis GD, Ruddell E (2012) Fear perceptions in public parks: interactions of environmental concealment, the presence of people recreating, and gender. Environ Behav. doi:10.1177/0013916512446334

  • Kappes C, Bermeitinger C, Greve W (2011) Fear-of-crime priming by means of a threat decision task in younger and older adults. Manuscript submitted for publication

  • Kessler E-M, Staudinger UM (2009) Affective experience in adulthood and old age: the role of affective arousal and perceived affect regulation. Psychol Aging 24:349–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Killias M (1990) Vulnerability: towards a better understanding of a key variable in the genesis of fear of crime. Violence Vict 5(2):97–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Köhn A, Bornewasser M (2011) Deskriptive Auswertung der Greifswalder Befragung zum Thema Kriminalitätsfurcht. Working Paper Nr. 4 im Rahmen des BMBF-Projekts Kosipol. Universität Münster. Retrieved from http://miami.uni-muenster.de/servlets/DerivateServlet/Derivate-6020/wp4_Koehn2011.pdf

  • Kreuter F (2002) Kriminalitätsfurcht: Messung und methodische Probleme [Fear of crime: Measurement and methodological problems]. Leske + Budrich, Opladen

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunzmann U, Grühn D (2005) Age differences in emotional reactivity: the sample case of sadness. Psychol Aging 20:47–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kunzmann U, Richter D (2009) Emotional reactivity across the adult life-span: the cognitive pragmatics make a difference. Psychol Aging 24:879–889

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kunzmann U, Little TD, Smith J (2000) Is age-related stability of subjective well-being a paradox? Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence from the Berlin Aging Study. Psychol Aging 15(3):511–526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kunzmann U, Kupperbusch CS, Levenson RW (2005) Behavioral inhibition and amplification during emotional arousal: a comparison of two age groups. Psychol Aging 20:144–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laux L, Glanzmann P, Schaffner P, Spielberger CD (1981) State-Trait-Angstinventar (STAI). Beltz, Weinheim

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee M (2007) Inventing fear of crime: criminology and the politics of anxiety. Devon, Willan

    Google Scholar 

  • Levenson RW, Carstensen LL, Gottman JM (1994) The influence of age and gender on affect, physiology, and their interrelations: a study of long-term marriages. J Pers Soc Psychol 67:56–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon DP, Fairchild AJ (2009) Current directions in mediation analysis. Curr Dir Psychol 18:16–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall MA, Brown JD (2006) Trait aggressiveness and situational provocation: a test of the traits as situational sensitivities (TASS) model. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 32:1100–1113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • May D, Radar N, Goodrum S (2010) A gendered assessment of the “Threat of Victimization”: examining gender differences in fear of crime, perceived risk, avoidance, and defensive behaviors. Crim Justice Rev 35(2):159–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitnitski AB, Graham JE, Mogilner AJ, Rockwood K (2002) Frailty, fitness and late-life mortality in relation to chronological and biological age. BMC Geriatr 2(1):1. doi:10.1186/1471-2318-2-1

  • Mowrer OH (1939) A stimulus-response analysis of anxiety and its role as a reinforcing agent. Psychol Rev 46(6):553–565

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naplava T (2008) Kriminalitätsfurcht und registrierte Kriminalität. Sozialökologische Analysen mit Aggregatdaten und Mehrebenenanalysen [Fear of crime and registered crime. Socioecological analyses with aggregates and multilevel analyses]. Monatsschrift für Kriminologie und Strafrechtsreform 91(1):56–73

  • Rachman S (1977) The conditioning theory of fear-acquisition: a critical examination. Behav Res Ther 15(5):375–387

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rachman SJ (1990) Fear and courage. Freeman, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Reuband KH (2000) Der “Standardindikator” zur Messung der Kriminalitätsfurcht—in ‘skandalöser’ Weise unspezifisch und in der Praxis dennoch brauchbar? [The ‘standard indicator’ as a measure for fear of crime—scandalously unspecific and still useful in parxis?] Monatsschrift für Kriminologie und Strafrechtsreform 83:185–195

  • Riediger M, Schmiedek F, Wagner GG, Lindenberger U (2009) Seeking pleasure and seeking pain: differences in prohedonic and contra-hedonic motivation from adolescence to old age. Psychol Sci 20(12):1529–1535

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson JP (2010) Criminal victimization in the United States, 2008 statistical tables. NCJ 227669. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington, DC

  • Sacco V, Nakhaie MR (2001) Coping with crime: an examination of elderly and non-elderly adaptations. Int J Law Psychiatry 24:305–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheibe S, Carstensen LL (2010) Emotional aging: recent findings and future trends. J Gerontol Psychol Sci 65B(2):135–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt M, Gollwitzer M, Baumert A, Gschwendner T, Hofmann W, Rothmund T (2008) Traits as Situational Sensitivities: Psychometric and Substantive Comments on the TASS Model Proposed by Marshall and Brown (2006) (Report No. 170). Retrieved from http://psydok.sulb.uni-saarland.de/volltexte/2009/2352/

  • Semyonov M, Gorodzeisky A, Glikman A (2012) Neighborhood ethnic composition and resident perception of safety in European countries. Soc Probl 59(1):117–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skogan WG, Maxfield MG (1981) Coping with crime: individual and neighborhood reactions. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills

  • Spielberger CD (1972) Anxiety as an emotional state. In: Spielberger CD (ed) Anxiety: current trends in theory and research, vol 1. Academic Press, New York, pp 23–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Streubel B, Kunzmann U (2011) Age differences in emotional reactions: arousal and age-relevance count. Psychol Aging 26:966–978

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sylvers P, Lilienfeld S, LaPrairie J (2011) Differences between trait fear and trait anxiety: implications for psychopathology. Clin Psychol Rev 31:122–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teachman BA, Gordon TL (2009) Age differences in anxious responding: older and calmer, unless the trigger is physical. Psychol Aging 24:703–714

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tseloni A, Zarafonitou C (2008) Fear of crime and victimization: a multivariate multilevel analysis of competing measurements. Eur J Criminol 5:387–409

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vrij A, Winkel FW (1991) Characteristics of the built environment and fear of crime: a research note on interventions in unsafe locations. Deviant Behav 12(2):203–215

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wahl H-W, Heyl V (2008) Verluste und Entwicklungsrisiken des höheren Lebensalter [Loss and developmental risks in old age]. In: Petermann F, Schneider W (Hrsg.) Angewandte Entwicklungspsychologie, S. 859–884. Hogrefe, Göttingen

  • Westermann R, Spies K, Stahl G, Hesse F (1996) Relative effectiveness and validity of mood induction procedures: a meta-analysis. Eur J Soc Psychol 26:557–580

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ziegler R, Mitchell DB (2003) Aging and fear of crime: an experimental approach to an apparent paradox. Exp Aging Res 29:173–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Sincere thanks are given to Pippa Bell for her help in improving the readability of this article. The authors thank Hans-Werner Wahl and two anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cathleen Kappes.

Additional information

Responsible editor: H.-W. Wahl.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 4.

Table 4 Translated vignettes of Study 1 and Study 2

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kappes, C., Greve, W. & Hellmers, S. Fear of crime in old age: precautious behaviour and its relation to situational fear. Eur J Ageing 10, 111–125 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-012-0255-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-012-0255-3

Keywords

Navigation