NCJ Number
174845
Journal
Social Forces Volume: 75 Issue: 2 Dated: December 1996 Pages: 667-690
Date Published
1996
Length
24 pages
Annotation
The author explored the thesis that sexual assault may operate as a master offense among women and heighten their fear of other victimizations using measures of fear and perceived risk of victimization from a national survey of adults.
Abstract
The survey was conducted through telephone interviews in 1990 and involved a final sample of 1,101 respondents and a response rate of 61 percent. A range of potential victimizations was probed. Results showed fear of sexual assault substantially increased the explained variance in fear of personal crime, eliminating or reversing the gender difference. Fear of sexual assault also influenced fear of property offenses but its effect was smaller than for personal crimes. In addition, findings demonstrated women were afraid of all victimizations, primarily due to their perceived risk of such offenses and their fear of rape in everyday life. Implications of the study for explaining fear of victimization among women are discussed. 55 references, 6 notes, and 5 tables