Monash University Older people living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods are not significantly affected by a fear of crime compared to younger populations, researchers from Australia and Germany have discovered. They are, however, considerably more fearful than younger people in better-off neighbourhoods with low levels of crime. The researchers, Associate Professor Rebecca Wickes from Monash University in Melbourne, Dr Göran Köber from the University of Freiburg and Professor Dietrich Oberwittler from Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, tabled their findings in the journal of Ageing & Society. Researchers inferred that younger people have stronger reactions to neighbourhood social conditions in expressing fear, whereas older people show high levels of fear irrespective of neighbourhood contexts.