One of the most consistent predictors of fear of crime is gender, whereby women are more fearful of crime than men, despite their lower rates of victimization. An often-cited explanation for this apparent paradox is the “shadow” of sexual assault, which has received overwhelming support in studies among college students. However, this work has been largely quantitative and rarely comparative in nature. Using in-depth qualitative interviews with 70 undergraduates attending a suburban and an urban university, the focus of the current study was to understand if and how gender shapes students’ fear of crime and perceptions of risk on campus, as well as whether the influence of gender varies across contexts. Consistent with the shadow hypothesis, this study found that students attending university in the relatively affluent suburban setting were most concerned about the sexual assault and rape of their female peers, especially by non-student outsiders. Yet in the less advantaged urban context, the shadow was missing from students’ remarks. Instead, participants believed they were most likely to be robbed and generally knew someone who had been a victim of the crime, had they not been robbed themselves. The findings from this study have theoretical implications for the role of context in the shadow of sexual assault hypothesis, as well as methodological implications for how scholars examine gender and students’ fear of crime.

对犯罪恐惧最一致的预测因素之一是性别，即女性比男性更害怕犯罪，尽管她们的受害率较低。对于这种明显的悖论，一个经常被引用的解释是性侵犯的“阴影”，它在大学生的研究中得到了压倒性的支持。然而，这项工作主要是定量的，很少有比较性质。通过对就读于郊区和城市大学的 70 名本科生进行深入的定性访谈，本研究的重点是了解性别是否以及如何影响学生对犯罪的恐惧和对校园风险的看法，以及性别是否影响性别因环境而异。与阴影假说一致，这项研究发现，在相对富裕的郊区环境中上大学的学生最关心女性同龄人的性侵犯和强奸，尤其是非学生外人的性侵犯和强奸。然而，在条件较差的城市环境中，学生的言论中却没有阴影。相反，参与者认为他们最有可能被抢劫，并且如果他们自己没有被抢劫，他们通常都认识曾是犯罪受害者的人。这项研究的结果对背景在性侵犯假设的阴影中的作用具有理论意义，以及对学者如何检验性别和学生对犯罪的恐惧的方法论意义。学生的评论中没有阴影。相反，参与者认为他们最有可能被抢劫，并且如果他们自己没有被抢劫，他们通常都认识曾是犯罪受害者的人。这项研究的结果对背景在性侵犯假设的阴影中的作用具有理论意义，以及对学者如何检验性别和学生对犯罪的恐惧的方法论意义。学生的评论中没有阴影。相反，参与者认为他们最有可能被抢劫，并且如果他们自己没有被抢劫，他们通常都认识曾是犯罪受害者的人。这项研究的结果对背景在性侵犯假设的阴影中的作用具有理论意义，以及对学者如何检验性别和学生对犯罪的恐惧的方法论意义。