Fear of crime among residents of rural counties: an analysis by gender

Abstract

Research often overlooks rural populations in explaining criminal justice phenomena, despite variant social and economic patterns. The current study considers fear of crime among rural residents, particularly as it relates with social experiences, prior victimization, and respondent characteristics. In particular, gender is considered not only as a covariate but the unique patterns of fear of crime in comparing male and female models. Using survey data from a nationally representative sample, the results demonstrate some parallels but also some departure from prior fear of crime research. The results indicate social perceptions differ in rural spaces, highlighting the importance of broader social experiences in explaining fear of crime. The findings demonstrate predictive mechanisms operate differently for males and females. Overall, these findings enhance the understanding of fear of crime in different settings and by gender.

Keywords:

• Fear of crime
• gender
• rural

Notes

1. Surveyors attempted five callbacks in order to maximize response rates. Although the response rate is lower than preferred, it is consistent with other telephone survey response rates (McCarty et al. 2006; Kohut et al. 2012). Many of the respondents were reachable, but refused to participate in the survey, which may bias the results. In a comparison to the residents of the 36 sample counties and all 1550 rural counties, the respondents in this study were more likely to have a high school diploma and own their home, and reported a higher household income.

2. In acknowledgment of additional environmental differences, one set of analyses included a regional control (not shown). This did not change the overall results, nor substantively offer additional explanatory power to the analyses.