The relationship between television and fear of crime: an empirical test of three causal explanations

Three hypotheses regarding the relationship between television viewing and fear of crime exist. The cultivation hypothesis states that watching television increases fear of crime. The mood management hypothesis states that frightened people will watch more crime on television to learn how to cope with their fear. The withdrawal hypothesis states that people who are afraid of crime will be afraid to leave the house. This leads to heavier television viewing, thus creating a spurious relationship between fear of crime and watching crime on television. This article compares these three models and a null model using structural equation models. Data from a representative sample of 909 respondents from Flanders, Belgium, offer support for the cultivation hypothesis, which offers a better explanation than the null model, but do not support either of the other hypotheses. In the model, direct experience of crime was not related to fear, while television viewing was.Departement Communicatiewetenschap. School voor Massacommunicatieresearch (OE)status: publishe