Assessing Cross-Cultural Validity of Fear of Crime Measures through Comparisons between Linguistic Communities in Belgium

Abstract

In order for cross-cultural comparisons of ‘fear of crime’ to be meaningful, the instruments used to measure the constructs—both ‘fear of crime’ itself and other constructs used to explain it—have to exhibit adequate cross-cultural equivalence. Not only does potential cross-cultural bias invalidate ‘fear of crime’ comparisons, it also distorts the true relationships between explanatory variables and ‘fear of crime’ when testing a conceptual model. This paper uses comparisons between the Flemish- and French-speaking populations of Belgium to explore these problems of cross-cultural equivalence. The data are provided by the Belgian Safety Monitor 1998, a large-scale national survey focusing on ‘fear of crime’ and related topics. Cross-cultural equivalence within a theory-driven contextual model was assessed using structural equation modelling (LISREL). A theoretically relevant, exploratory model with ‘fear of crime’ as the dependent variable was tested. Both the dependent and independent constructs in the model were assessed for their cross-cultural equivalence. In principle, this allows a model that is free from cultural bias to be specified. However, in this case there was no evidence of measurement variance between the two cultural groups.