PERCEIVED RISK VERSUS FEAR OF CRIME - EMPIRICAL-EVIDENCE OF CONCEPTUALLY DISTINCT REACTIONS IN SURVEY DATA

The conceptualization and measurement of fear of crime have received c onsiderable attention in the research literature. Nevertheless, most s ample surveys use indicators that only tap a general, cognitive assess ment of safety - assumed to represent fear of violence. This article e xamines whether there are conceptually and empirically distinct dimens ions of fear of crime by comparing the micro- and macrolevel anteceden ts of such a general, cognitive ''fear'' - which we call ''perceived r isk'' - with those for a more emotionally based, burglary-specific fea r. Hierarchical logistic regression models for both types of fear are presented. Some similarities were found between fear and risk in terms of various predictors, but results generally provide further empirica l evidence that the two constructs are quite distinct. At the individu al-level, the effect of gender is different across models, and routine -activities variables are somewhat better predictors of burglary-speci fic fear in comparison to risk perception. At the contextual level, ne ighborhood integration serves to diminish respondents' perceptions of neighborhood danger, yet this variable is positively related to burgla ry-specific fear.