The Importance of Neighborhood Context and Gender on International Students’ Fear of Crime in Istanbul

Abstract

Although fear of crime is an important issue for international students in a host country, this issue has not been explored in Turkey. The current study aims to fill this gap with data from a sample of 377 international students from a large urban university in Istanbul. The current study applies the incivilities thesis to fear of crime by including individual-level variables, perceived safety, and the perceived crime problem in Istanbul. The structural equation model (SEM) results show that social and physical incivilities do not mediate the relationship between international students’ demographic characteristics and fear of crime. The findings indicate that gender is one of the important variables shaping internationals students’ fear of crime and the perceived crime problem in Istanbul. By highlighting the importance of investigating international students’ fear of crime, the study has important implications for stakeholders in host societies.