RT Article
T1 Fear of Terrorism and Fear of Violent Crimes in the United States: a Comparative Analysis
JF Crime & delinquency
VO 69
IS 5
SP 891
OP 914
A1 Onat, Ismail
A2 Güler, Ahmet
A2 Kula, Sedat
A2 Bastug, Mehmet F.
LA English
YR 2023
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1869091434
AB The purpose of this study was to compare Americans? fear of terrorism to fear of violent crimes (i.e., murder, mass shooting, and gang violence). Previous research suggested that similarities exist between terrorism and violent crimes, yet no study has compared the fear aspects of terrorism and violence in the United States. Using nationally representative data from the 2018 Americans? Fears Survey (N?=?1,190), we compared fear of terrorism to fear of violent crimes with a main focus on the effects of exposure to the media, political views, and religiosity of the adult Americans. The results of the analyses showed the roles of online media, religiosity, and politics differed significantly in shaping the sampled Americans? fear of terrorism when compared to their fear of violent crimes. Despite the resemblance of terrorism and violence, the fear arising from the political nature of terrorism as a crime distinguishes the nature of fear from violent crimes.
K1 Fear
K1 gang violence
K1 Mass shooting
K1 Terrorism
DO 10.1177/00111287211036130