Fear of crime is thought to limit social activity in older people. Sixty older people, recruited via day centres, were given questionnaire-based interviews. A series of questions produced two scales of crime awareness and a scale of perceived crime prevalence. Fear of crime was operationalized through a catastrophizing technique, and by a single-item measure of perceived safety. Physical health, mental health and psychosocial limitation were assessed. Physical health was found to moderate a relationship between crime awareness and fear of crime. In multivariate models, fear of crime was not a significant predictor of psychosocial limitation, which was predicted by physical and mental health. Implications of the findings for models of fear of crime and health psychology are discussed.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.
2.
Berwick, D. M., Murphy, J. M., Goldman, P. A., Ware, J. E., Barsky, A. J., & Weinstein, M. C. (1991). Performance of a five-item mental health screening test. Medical Care, 29, 169–176.
3.
Blake, A. J., Morgan, K., Bendall, M. J., Dallosso, H., Ebrahim, S. B. J., Arie, T. H. D., Fentem, P. H., & Bassey, E. J. (1988). Falls by elderly people at home: prevalence and associated factors. Age and Ageing, 17, 365–372.
4.
Brillon, Y. (1987). Victimisation and fear of crime among the elderly. Toronto: Butterworth.
5.
Conklin, J. E. (1971). Dimensions of community response to the crime problem. Social Problems,18, 373–385.
6.
Conklin, J. E. (1975). The impact of crime. New York: Macmillan.
7.
Cusson, M. (1986). L’analyse stratégique et quelques développements récents en criminologie. Criminologie, 19, 53–73.
8.
Ehrhorn, S., & Greve, W. (1999). Fear of crime in old age: Vulnerability as the key concept. Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie, 32(suppl. 2) 278-278.
9.
Feinberg, N. (1981). The emotional and behavioral consequences of violent crime on elderly victims. Victimology, 6, 355–357.
10.
Ferraro, K. F. (1995). Fear of crime. Interpreting victimization risk. New York: State University of New York Press.
11.
Greve, W. (1998). Fear of crime among the elderly: Foresight, not fright. International Review of Victimology, 5, 277–309.
12.
Gubrium, J. F. (1973). The myth of the golden years: A socio-environmental theory of ageing. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas.
13.
Hale, C. (1996). Fear of crime: A review of the literature. International Review of Victimology, 4, 79–150.
14.
Hindelang, M. J., Gottfredson, M. R., & Garafolo, J. (1978). Victims of crime against the person: An empirical foundation for a theory of personal victimisation. Cambridge. MA: Balinger.
15.
Katzman, R., Brown, T., Fuld, P., Peck, A., Schechter, R., & Schimmel, H. (1983). Validation of a short orientation memory concentration test of cognitive impairment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 734–739.
16.
Kendall, P. C., & Ingram, R. E. (1987). The future of cognitive assessment of anxiety: Let's get specific. In L. Michaelson & L. M. Ascher (Eds.), Anxiety and stress disorders: Cognitive-behavioral assessment and treatment. New York: Guilford.
17.
Lawton, M. P., & Yaffe, S. (1980). Victimisation and fear of crime in elderly public housing tenants. Journal of Gerontology, 35, 768–779.
18.
Lichtenstein, S., Slovic, P., Fischoff, B., Layman, M., & Combs, B. (1978). Judged frequency of lethal events. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 4, 551–578.
19.
Lindesay, J. (1996). Elderly people and crime. Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 6, 199–204.
20.
McCoy, H. V., Wolldredge, J. D., Cullen, F. T., Dubeck, P. J., & Browning, S. L. (1996). Lifestyles of the old and not so fearful: Life situation and older persons’ fear of crime. Journal of Criminal Justice, 24, 191–205.
21.
Ollenburger, J. C. (1981). Criminal victimisation and fear of crime. Research on Ageing, 3, 101–118.
22.
Patrick, D. L., & Peach, H. (Eds.) (1989). Disablement in the community. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
23.
Peterson, C., Seligman, M. E. P., Yurko, K. H., Martin, L. R., & Friedman, H. S. (1998). Catastrophizing and untimely death. Psychological Science, 9, 127–130.
24.
Slovic, P., Fischoff, B., & Lichtenstein, S. (1977). Behavioural decision theory. Annual Review of Psychology, 28, 1–39.
25.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1973). Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability. Cognitive Psychology, 5, 207–232.
26.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgement under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185, 1124–1131.
27.
Vasey, M., & Borkovec, T. D. (1992). A catastrophizing assessment of worrisome thoughts. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 16, 505–520.
28.
Victor, C. R. (1991). Health and health care in later life. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
