Data for this study were taken from a larger study conducted at a relatively large, predominantly white Southern university in the spring of 1989. The study population was composed of those students who lived in university housing. The study sample consisted of 391 students who resided on campus who had not been previously victimized. The questionnaire included an array of items that measured the students' fear of crime associated with selected routine activities. Sociodemographic variables were also included in the questionnaire. The result for the entire sample indicated that gender was the only significant predictor of fear of crime. Female students reported higher fear-of-crime scores than male students, even though they had not been previously victimized. Among females, the only significant predictor of their fear-of-crime scores was the media variable. Like their male counterparts, females who watched news programs and/or read newspapers regularly reported higher fear-of-crime scores. 13 references