ABSTRACT
This paper examines the impact of messages about sexual danger women receive from parents, peers, media, school officials, and past victimization on fear of stranger and acquaintance rape. Analyzing survey data for 630 undergraduate women, we find that parental warnings, internalized mean world view, university crime alerts, and being more prone to anxiety are significant predictors of fear of rape across models, while effects of media and victimization are limited. When high and low proneness to anxiety subgroups are considered separately, numerous differences emerge. Results suggest the need to include formal measures of anxiety in future fear of crime research.
Subject(s)
Crime Victims , Rape , Female , Humans , Socialization , Universities , Fear , AnxietyABSTRACT
This article examines social psychological underpinnings of fear of rape among college women. We analyze data from a survey of 1,905 female undergraduates to test the influence of 5 subjective perceptions about vulnerability and harm: unique invulnerability, gender risk, defensibility, anticipatory shame, and attribution of injury. We include 3 sources of crime exposure in our models: past sexual victimization, past noncontact violent victimization, and structural risk measured by age, parent's income, and race. Separate measures of fear of stranger and acquaintance rape are modeled, including variables tapping current versus anticipatory fear, fear on campus versus everywhere, and fear anytime versus at night. The data show that fear of rape among college women appears more grounded in constructed perceptions of harm and danger than in past violent experiences.
