Abstract
Subjective well-being is usually studied with respect to marital and occupational status, income or subjective health. Conversely, research examining the relationship between this phenomenon and crime related factors is still relatively limited. This study therefore aims to extent the current knowledge in this area. Using data from the fifth wave of the European Social Survey for the Czech Republic, in which 2386 respondents participated, we conduct a hierarchical regression analysis to find out to what extent victimization experience and fear of crime influence life satisfaction and happiness of Czechs. The results of the analysis reveal a direct relationship between fear of crime and subjective well-being. On the contrary, victimization affects life satisfaction and happiness indirectly via the fear of crime. Surprisingly, a decrease in life satisfaction is greater for fearful men than fearful women, whereas there are no gender differences regarding the fear of crime – happiness link.
Highlights
While research on fear of crime usually concentrates on causes of this phenomenon, less attention is paid to its consequences for individuals as well as for the whole society
As expected victimization experience plays an important role in explaining fear of crime
The bivariate analysis shows no association between our dependent variables and marital status
Summary
While research on fear of crime usually concentrates on causes of this phenomenon, less attention is paid to its consequences for individuals as well as for the whole society. It may especially be due to the fact that in most cases we operate with a cross-sectional data where identifying causal links is rather questionable. It is, confirmed by a number of authors (Garofalo, 1981; Chanley, Rudolph, & Rahn, 2000; Jackson & Bradford, 2009; Jackson, Bradford, Hohl, & Farrall, 2009; Jackson & Stafford, 2009; Liska, Sanchirico, & Reed, 1988; Williams, Singh, & Singh, 1994) that fear of crime can lead to various social problems ranging from lower interpersonal and institutional trust to change in behavioral patterns and lifestyle or worse integration into the society. This phenomenon is, in majority of cases studied with respect to marital and occupational status, income or subjective health
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