Fear of crime is associated with loneliness among older adults in Singapore: Gender and ethnic differences

Fear of crime is a complex perception and has underlying psychological, social and health repercussions. The influence of fear of crime on psychosocial outcomes, however, may be moderated by various social factors. This study examined how fear of crime influences loneliness among low-income older adults attending a Senior Activity Centre (SAC) in multiethnic Singapore. In addition, we tested whether these associations were moderated by gender and ethnicity. We analysed cross-sectional data (N = 1,266) from The SAC Study, a survey conducted with older adults who were attending a SAC between March 2015 and August 2015. Multilevel models were used to test whether fear of crime was associated with loneliness; and whether the association was moderated by gender and ethnicity. We found that fear of crime was positively associated with loneliness, and that this association was stronger among men than women, but ethnicity did not moderate this relationship. Findings from our study suggest that fear of crime may have a stronger negative effect on men's psychological well-being, even though they report lower fear of crime. This highlights the importance of sociocultural context when examining the psychosocial implications of fear of crime in the population.