A new UCL (University College London) study has shown that people with a strong fear of crime are almost twice as likely to show symptoms of depression.
The research, based on data taken from the Whitehall II study, also shows that fear of crime is associated with decreased physical functioning and lower quality of life. The findings are published today in the American Journal of Public Health.
The study's lead author, Dr Mai Stafford, UCL Epidemiology & Public Health, said: “Very broadly, these results show that if your fear of crime levels are higher, your health is likely to be worse – particularly your mental health. Of course, you might expect that people who are depressed or frail might be more afraid of crime and venturing out of doors, so we have taken account of previous mental health problems and physical frailty and adjusted for those accordingly. Even with a level playing field, the data still demonstrates this strong link between fear of crime and poorer mental health.
“What's also key here is that the 6,500 participants were not very elderly – they were all aged between 50 and 75, many were still working, and they're generally a pretty healthy group of people. Overall, the data strongly suggests not simply that people who are vulnerable due to their health or age are more frightened, but that being frightened of crime is in itself contributing to their poor mental health and quality of life.”
Alongside a comprehensive medical examination, study participants were asked to report on how worried they felt about crime. They rated their concern on a scale from ‘not worried' to ‘very worried', about particular events happening in their neighbourhood: their home being broken into, being mugged or robbed, their car being stolen or things being stolen from the car, and being raped.
The researchers then compared the results with data collected about their mental and physical health – symptoms of anxiety and depression, physical function, and quality of life. After adjusting for age, gender, employment grade, length of residence and previous mental health status, researchers found that participants with a high fear of crime were 1.93 times as likely to exhibit symptoms of depression and 1.75 times as likely to exhibit symptoms of anxiety, than those reporting low fear of crime. These people exercised less, saw friends less often and participated in fewer social activities compared with less fearful participants.