Researchers conducted the first comprehensive nationwide study that looked at what Americans are really afraid of.
The study encompassed 1,500 participants from across the country that fell into a variety of demographics in order to unveil the nation's biggest fears, Chapman University reported. The information was grouped into four basic categories: "personal fears, crime, natural disasters and fear factors."
The study revealed the top five things Americans are afraid of (from highest ranking to lowest) is: walking alone at night; falling victim to identity theft; internet safety; mass shootings; and public speaking.
"What initially lead us into this line of research was our desire to capture this information on a year-over-year basis so we can draw comparisons with what items are increasing in fear as well as decreasing," said study leader Christopher Bader. "We learned through this initial survey that we had to phrase the questions according to fears [versus] concerns to capture the information correctly, so that is how we present it."
The top things Americans were most concerned about included: identity theft; corporate surveillance of internet activity; running out of money; government surveillance of internet activity; and getting sick.
The crime section revealed most Americans are not optimistic about the crime rate in the U.S. and do not feel like the country is becoming a safer place.
"What we found when we asked a series of questions pertaining to fears of various crimes is that a majority of Americans not only fear crimes such as, child abduction, gang violence, sexual assaults and others; but they also believe these crimes (and others) have increased over the past 20 years," said Edward Day who led this portion of the research and analysis. "When we looked at statistical data from police and FBI records, it showed crime has actually decreased in America in the past 20 years. Criminologists often get angry responses when we try to tell people the crime rate has gone down."
In terms of natural disaster fears most of those surveyed did not have emergency kits, even though fear of climate change and extreme weather events is on the rise.
The top five most feared natural disasters turned out to be: tornadoes and hurricanes; earthquakes; floods; pandemic and major epidemics; and power outages.
The team also looked at "fear factors" in individuals reviewing the influences of "age, gender, race, work status, education, income, region of the country, urban vs. rural, political preference, religion, TV viewing, and gun ownership."
"Through a complex series of analyses, we were able to determine what types of people tend to fear certain things, and what personal characteristics tend to be associated with most types of fear," Bader said.
The results showed having a lower education and watching more television were the primary factors that predicted fear.
