| Fear of crime research has continued to grow over the last 40 years. However, while fear of crime continues to be a major variable of interest among researchers, little effort has been made to appropriately incorporate fear of crime into the study of online victimization. To date, there have been no empirical, academic studies that focus specifically on the prevalence of fear of cybercrime. Additionally, there has only one study which has attempted to examine any predictors of fear of cybercrime (Higgins et al., 2006). As a result, very little is known about fear of online victimization. The purpose of this dissertation was to continue to develop the fear of crime literature by examining the extent of fear of cyberstalking victimization, as well as the factors that serve as predictors for fear of cyberstalking. Utilizing data from a large sample of undergraduate students from the University of Cincinnati, the current study analyzed both the extent of fear of cyberstalking victimization and the link between cyberstalking victimization, perceived risk of cyberstalking victimization, and fear of cyberstalking victimization. As reported by this study, a large number of individuals are afraid of experiencing cyberstalking victimization. Further, gender, relationship status, type of offender, and frequency of pursuit behaviors have a major impact on the levels of reported fear of cyberstalking victimization. As with previous fear of crime research, cyberstalking victimization and perceived risk of cyberstalking victimization are also both key predictors of fear of cyberstalking victimization. The similarities and differences between fear of traditional street crime and cybercrime and possible directions for future research are also discussed. |
