Much, though not all, of the previous research has shown that older adults have higher levels of fear of victimization than younger adults. However, it is not well understood whether older adults are afraid of the types of victimization they are most at risk of and whether they are afraid of those who are most likely to perpetrate crimes against older adults.Pilot data were collected among community dwelling older adults in Nevada (n=467). Questions regarding financial, physical, and emotional abuse were asked as well as from whom they were afraid of each type of abuse. Questions were also asked regarding demographics, social cohesion, neighborhood safety, gun ownership, and other risk and protective factors.The majority of older adults report feeling “not afraid” of financial victimization (56%), physical victimization (54%), and emotional victimization (54%). However, when asked which they were most afraid of, 42% reported being most afraid of financial victimization, 34% reported being most afraid of emotional victimization and 34% reported being most afraid of physical victimization. Older adults were most often afraid of strangers for all three forms of victimization and rarely afraid of family members. A higher proportion of older adults were afraid of acquaintances with respect to financial abuse.These data provide insight into which types of crimes older adults are afraid of, from whom they fear abuse, and protective and risk factors associated with each. It seems that fear is somewhat well aligned with risk, however it is not clear that older adults are suspicious of the most common perpetrators.
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