Lifestyles of the old and not so fearful: Life situation and older persons' fear of crime

Based on a survey of 1,448 elderly residents of Dade County (Miami), Florida, the impact on fear of crime of status characteristics, victimization experience, and various measures of life situation was assessed. The analysis yielded four main conclusions. First, in contrast to much academic and popular commentary, the elderly did not appear to have high levels of fear. Second, evidence exists that victimization experience increases, but is not the main determinant of fear. Third, the inclusion of life situation variables markedly improved the explained variance for both measures of fear of crime, thus supporting the utility of this line of inquiry. Fourth, consistent with previous studies, dissatisfaction with neighborhood and vulnerability were important correlates of fear of crime.