U.S. and Canadian College Students’ Fear of Crime: A Comparative Investigation of Fear of Crime and Its Correlates

Abstract

Being fearful of crime is, unfortunately, a common experience. Research shows that many factors influence a person's fear of crime, demonstrating that certain groups are generally more fearful than others. Even though they are typically young, college students express being fearful of crime on and off campus. What has yet to be investigated is whether college students who attend school in the U.S. are fearful at similar levels to their Canadian counterparts. Further, the correlates of fear of crime may also be different. To explore these issues, data from the American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment II survey of U.S. and Canadian college students are used. Results show that Canadian college students generally perceive their safety as being higher than U.S. college students, even though they face elevated victimization risks. Further, some correlates of fear of crime differ for U.S. and Canadian college students. These findings suggest the need for additional crossnational comparative work to see if patterns generalize across contexts. CrimRxiv U.S. and Canadian College Students' Fear of Crime: A Comparative Investigation of Fear of Crime and Its Correlates 3Statistics in Canada, 2020). 1 In addition, fear of crime may affect student behavior and performance, which may lead to missing opportunities such as avoiding sporting events, avoiding late night classes, and avoiding campus/club activities (Hibdon,

Fear of Crime, Perceived Risk, and Confidence About Dangerous Situations Among University Women in the United States and Poland

“…In the current study, prior victims (Polish and U. S. students) did not score higher on Fear than nonvictims, thus showing a lack of support for previous findings of victimization resulting in higher fears. There are few comparisons about fears cross-culturally, which has been previously noted (Boateng, 2018;Daigle et al, 2021).…”

“…Recent findings show that approximately one-fourth of students fear crime on campus (Maier & DePrince, 2020a). However, we know that women are more fearful than men in matters of crime and experiences (Daigle et al, 2021). Race (Boateng & Adjekum-Boateng, 2017) and prior victimization often increase fear levels, as well (Maier & DePrince, 2021b;Mider, 2021).…”

“…Two types of predictor variables for fear of crime have been described by Va´zquez et al (2021): individual-level, such as direct and vicarious victimization, avoidant and defensive behaviors, awareness, and sociodemographic characteristics, and countrylevel fear of crime, such as index of gender equality and the prevalence of intimate partner violence against women. Little is known about the interplay of cultural factors influencing the fear of crime and victimization, and there are few comparisons of fear of crime cross-culturally among female university students (Boateng, 2018;Daigle et al, 2021).…”