Media Exposure and Fear About Crime: An Application of Mediated Fear Model

Abstract

Social behavior can be troubled by the constant concern of crime. Research on the relationship between traditional media crime exposure, social media crime videos, and fear about the crime is scarce. The present study is designed to investigate whether social media exposure, TV news crime viewing, crime drama exposure is directly or indirectly associated to fear about crime. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the mediated fear model and cultivation theory. A sample of 371 university students was selected through a convenience sampling technique. SPSS 25 was used to analyze the data and Model 4 of Process Macro was used to examine the mediating role of the cognitive component of fear of crime (perceived seriousness, perceived risk, and perceived control). The results show that television news crime viewing, crime drama, and social media crime video exposure is positively associated with fear about crime. Moreover, three cognitive components of fear of crime played a mediatory role between traditional media exposure and fear of crime. In addition to this, the relationship between social media crime video exposure and fear about crime was mediated by the cognitive component of fear of crime.