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    Rights statement: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology on 5/12/2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14789949.2017.1410562

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Predicting fear of crime: Personality outperforms prior victimisation

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Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>03/2018
<mark>Journal</mark>Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology
Issue number3
Volume29
Number of pages16
Pages (from-to)403-418
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date5/12/17
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Reported levels of crime continue to fall, but fear of crime remains a significant social problem. Previous studies have identified several factors that predict fear of crime (e.g. age and gender) however; it is not obvious how this information can be used to help distinguish between individuals in larger groups. Personality is predictive of other lifestyle outcomes yet its relationship with fear of crime remains unknown. We examined personality correlates of fear of crime alongside other well-established predictors. A total of 301 participants completed the HEXACO-PI-R personality scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. Higher levels of emotionality (r = .37) and lower levels of honesty-humility (r = -.18) correlated with increased levels of crime related fear; however, prior victimisation did not improve a subsequent model. While elucidating the relationship between fear of crime and personality, our results also raise additional questions concerning the measurement of crime related fear in the general population.

Bibliographic note

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology on 5/12/2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14789949.2017.1410562