Testing the relative importance of contemporaneous offenses: The impacts of fear of sexual assault versus fear of physical harm among men and women

Purpose rrent study tests the shadow of sexual assault hypothesis and extends recent research by examining whether the fear of physical harm or the fear of sexual assault has a greater impact on fear of other crimes. s ermine the unique interaction between gender and fear, we conduct separate analyses among men and women. s fear of physical harm and fear of sexual intrusion are both predictive of fear of home invasion, robbery, and murder, fear of physical harm has a significantly greater impact across all types of fear (e.g., home invasion, robbery, murder). sions e previous empirical evidence that suggests fear operates differently among men and women, our findings suggest that fear of physical harm – rather than fear of sexual intrusion – is a more robust predictor of fear of crime among both men and women.