Victimization and fear of crime in elderly public housing tenants

Crime rate, personal victimization, and fear of crime were studied in relation to a variety of measures of well-being of 662 older people in 53 public housing sites. Findings indicated that fear of crime was central in determining psychological well-being; crime rate and victimization influenced well-being primarily if fear of crime intervened. On the other hand, these crime-related variables were minimally related to size of social space and activity outside the housing site. Age integration was strongly associated with fear of crime but did not increase with actual victimization except where age mixing was totally indiscriminate. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal data are analyzed in multiple-regression form and a path-analytic cross-sectional model is tested. It is concluded that planned housing serves a protective function for older tenants, and that older tenants are not necessarily made "prisoners in their homes" by either crime or fear of crime.