. Exploring the Gender Difference in Fear of Crime among Older People
International Journal of Management, Economics and Social Sciences
Special Issue-International Conference on Medical and Health Informatics (ICMHI 2017)
2018, Vol. 7(S1), pp. 26 – 39.
ISSN 2304 – 1366
http://www.ijmess.com

 

Exploring the Gender Difference in Fear of Crime among Older People

 

Chih-Ping Li
Dept. of Health Industry Management, Kainan University, Taiwan

 

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to evaluate anew fear of crime scale that accurately reflects the current criminal experiences of older people and test gender differences in fear of crime in a number of items, in the item wording, and in choice response categories. A series of chi-square tests compared the fear of crime scale of older people according to their gender, and then logistic regression models were created and tested between males and females. The finding presents the odds ratios, which suggest that older female odds were 168% higher than older men odds of the item 'Someone forcibly taking your property'. They were 43% lower than older men odds of the item 'Some strangers wandering around your home at midnight' and were 170% higher than older men odds of the item 'Some drag racing adolescents trying to hurt you'. Odds were 141% higher in older women than in older men of the item "Someone trying to abduct you". In conclusion, older women are more afraid of crime than older men. This study suggests that the fear of crime in older women focuses more on bodily injury than in property damage.


Keywords: Older people, fear of crime, gender difference

 



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