The effect of fear of sexual victimization on adolescent fear of crime

The author examines the effect of fear of sexual victimization on fear of c rime among adolescents. Criminologists have indicated that gender is one of the strongest predictors of fear of crime: Women are more fearful than men . Some authors (Warr 1984, and Ferraro 1995, among others) have suggested t hat this differential fear among women can mostly be attributed to their in ordinate fear of sexual victimization. This relationship, however, has only been examined among adults. Using a sample of 725 adolescents, the effect of fear of sexual victimization and other demographic and contextual variab les on fear of criminal victimization is examined. Results indicate that fe ar of sexual victimization is the best predictor of fear of nonsexual victi mization, whereas the effects of other variables are contingent on race and gender. The reasons for this finding, as well as the implications for soci al policies, are discussed.