The (un)graspable feeling of insecurity. An exploration of the structures in the fear of crime concept of men and women Using data from a 2004 representative survey of Flemish 19-36-year olds (n=3251), the aim of the present study is to identify the structures in the fear of crime concept. By means of structural equation modelling we distinguish five connected but distinct components: risk assessment, specific fear, a more general feeling of insecurity, protective behaviour, and attitudes advocating a hard approach to insecurity. Since the overall latent factor is not invariant across gender, revealing a different structure in the fear of crime concept of men and women and hence the risk of spurious gender differences, the five measures should be used separately. The analyses indicate different levels and causes of fear of crime, according to the used measure. This doesn't imply that some measures are better than others, or that some measures lead to over- or underestimations of fear of crime, since it is a latent concept consisting of different components. It does mean that judgements on fear of crime should be taken carefully, taking the used measure explicitly into account.