Emily Berthelot: Measuring fear of institutional authority: Development and validation of micro-level scales of fear of institutional authority
Title
Measuring fear of institutional authority: Development and validation of micro-level scales of fear of institutional authority
Mentor
Department
Biosketch
Berthelot’s research has evolved from an early focus on the epidemiology of victimization risk and offending patterns to a broader examination of how individuals and institutions perceive, experience, and respond to crime, law, and authority. Grounded in a commitment to social and economic equality, her work integrates theoretical frameworks across criminology, sociology, social psychology, and public policy. Her recent scholarship examines fear of crime and fear of institutional authority, public perceptions of legitimacy and fairness within the justice system, organizational trust among justice system professionals, and the measurement of complex social attitudes related to crime and punishment. Across these areas, she investigates how structural inequality, institutional practices, and social context shape perceptions, behavior, and outcomes within communities and justice system organizations.
Project overview
This project seeks to develop and validate original, multi-item psychometric measures of fear of law enforcement and fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Building on prior published work validating a fear of crime scale, this study advances criminological theory and methodology by focusing on fear as a micro-level emotional response to institutional authority. Using a mixed-methods design, the project will generate item pools through qualitative interviews, followed by quantitative pilot testing and factor analysis. The resulting measures will be suitable for use in future research on public perceptions of punishment, institutional legitimacy, and behavioral avoidance.
Semi-structured interviews (n ≈ 30) will be conducted to elicit emotionally grounded narratives related to fear of police and ICE. Interviews will focus on micro-level emotional responses, bodily reactions, anticipatory fear, and avoidance behaviors. Interview data will be coded thematically and used to generate candidate scale items.
Candidate items will be administered in an online pilot survey. Exploratory factor analysis will be used to identify latent dimensions and refine item pools.
Refined scales will be tested in a follow-up sample using confirmatory factor analysis, reliability assessment, and validity testing (convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity).
Students will be actively involved in all phases of the project, including qualitative interviewing, coding, item development, data analysis, and dissemination. Students will receiving hands-on training in mixed-methods research and scale construction.
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