Perceptions of Community Safety: Exposure to Community Violence in a Low Risk Australian Population
Stacey Anderson, Garry Kidd

Abstract
This investigation was primarily concerned with individual perceptions of community safety. We examined the influence of exposure to community violence, cognitive coping styles, gender, and personality constructs on perceptions of community safety among 279 adults (76 males and 203 females; mean age=27.8 years) in regional Queensland, Australia. The results indicated that males exposed to high levels of community violence were significantly more likely to perceive their community as unsafe compared to males exposed to lower levels of violence. In contrast, females who had been exposed to higher levels of community violence did not perceive their community to be less safe. Moreover, while females were more likely to perceive they had social support, there was no evident relationship between social support and community safety for either females or males in the studied group.

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