The purpose of this study was to investigate Internet usage in a sample of college undergraduates, as well as to consider their experiences with online victimization, through variables representing the three constructs of Routine Activity Theory. A survey was administered to 100-level courses at a mid-sized university in the northeast, which questioned respondents on their Internet behaviors and experiences with victimization during the high school senior and college freshman time period. The findings of the study indicated that participating in behaviors that increased exposure to motivated offenders and target suitability in turn increased the likelihood of the three types of victimization measured. Conversely, taking protective measures against victimization to improve capable guardianship did not decrease the likelihood of victimization. This research provides a significant contribution to the literature as there are few explanatory studies that attempt to identify causal reasoning for the victimization of adolescents online.

Although research has established an offending/victimization overlap and that offenders and victims share similar characteristics, much less work has examined the longitudinal sequencing of victimization and offending in the same developmental period and whether key risk/protective factors significantly distinguish both offenders and victims.This study uses longitudinal data from a large sample of adolescents to examine these issues and does so using a novel methodological approach, the trajectory methodology, which allows for the examination of covariation between offending and victimization. Results indicate that there is a considerable degree of overlap between victims of physical violence and offenders over time and that certain covariates including school commitment, parental monitoring, low self-control, and sex significantly discriminate victim and offender groups. Furthermore, low self-control appears to be the most salient risk factor for distinguishing both victimization and delinquency trajectories.Theoretical and policy implications and directions for future research are identified.

No abstract

Although the relationship between Gottfredson and Hirschi’s self-control theory and crime is well known in the literature, much less research has addressed the possible link of low self-control and violent victimization. Drawing from the limited research in this area, the authors explore the trajectories of low self-control and violent victimization among a sample of adolescents from the Gang Resistance Education and Training data. The results appear to suggest that self-control is largely stable and that self-control trajectories are linked to violent victimization trajectories over time. Study limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract