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Objectives: This study aimed to test situational theories of victimization by answering three research questions, namely to what extent victims are actually victimized while being exposed to risky situations, whether the relation between victimization and situational elements is causal, and which elements of a situation are risky. We distinguished the type of activity, the company that individuals keep, the place of the activity, and the time of the activity. Methods: Data were collected among adolescents in The Hague, the Netherlands, using space–time budgets. These provided detailed information on situational elements for each hour across a period of four days. Multivariate fixed effects logit analyses were used to ensure that the results were not due to stable differences between individuals. Results: A total of 55 individuals reported 63 incidents of victimization. Results confirmed most hypotheses. Especially, the relation between delinquency and victimization was extraordinarily strong. Alcohol consumption, presence of peers, absence of authority figures, and being in a public place also increased the risk of victimization. Conclusions: Confirming major victimization theories, victimization was shown to occur during and because of exposure to risky situations. The hypothesized elements of risky situations were shown to have independent effects on victimization.

Objectives: Provide insight into the victim-offender overlap and role differentiation by examining to what extent socio-psychological characteristics, risky lifestyles/routine activities and immersion in a violent subculture explain differences between victims, offenders and victim-offenders. Specifically, we measure to what extent anxiety and depression, negative peer relations, dominance, and self-control account for differences in adolescents' inclination towards (violent) offending, victimization or both, over and above risky lifestyles/routine activities or immersion in a violent subculture. Methods: Building on the method proposed by Osgood and Schreck (2007), we use two waves of panel data from the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths, a prospective longitudinal study of adolescents in Switzerland. Results: Incorporating socio-psychological characteristics provides a more encompassing view of both the victim-offender overlap and victim versus offender role differentiation than routine activities/risky lifestyles and subcultural theory alone. Specifically, socio-psychological characteristics in particular differentiate between those who take on predominantly offender roles versus those who are predominantly victims. Conclusion: Unpacking the victim-offender overlap and examining differences in socio-psychological characteristics furthers our understanding of the etiology of the victim-offender overlap.

Transactional sex, the casual exchange of sexual favors for money or gifts, has been associated with negative outcomes and health risks, particularly among youth. This global review of the evidence explores trends of buying and selling sex among the general population of male and female youth across 28 countries. It compares the differences and similarities in prevalence rates between genders (male versus female), sex trading activities (selling versus buying), and country income groups (high-income versus low-and middle-income countries) and examines the relationships and situations surrounding transactional sex, and its correlates. The screening of reports resulted in the inclusion of 37 manuscripts (N = 120,447 participants), involving peer review and grey literature describing longitudinal and cross-sectional research across 7 high-income and 21 low-and middle-income countries. The review of prevalence rates suggests relatively low rates of transactional sex in highincome countries (with selling and buying rates below 10% in all countries) and relatively high, although varying rates, in low-and middle-income countries (with selling and buying rates of 60% or higher in seven countries). Gender disaggregated data suggests that boys are more likely than girls to sell sex in high-income countries while the opposite seems to be true in low-and middle-income countries. The findings suggest that initial contact between sellers and buyers is most often established through friends, acquaintances, and dating websites. The age of onset is around 15 years, many sellers and buyers already know each other before trading sex, and they are often of a similar age. Money is the most commonly used form of compensation. Correlates of selling sex include involvement in other risky sexual behaviors, substance use, infection with sexually transmitted diseases, mental health problems, family break-up, and a history of victimization. No or mixed relations have been found with socioeconomic and educational status. The correlates of buying sex include promiscuity, substance use, violence perpetration and, to some extent, higher socioeconomic status. Recommendations for future research are discussed.

This study applied a decision-making perspective to examine the causal mechanisms underlying the relation between violent victimization and offending. We theorized that having been victimized affects an individual's appraisal of subsequent potentially conflictive situations in such a way that victims become more attuned toward the benefits of violence perpetration than toward its costs. Furthermore, we argued that this altered appraisal mediates the relation between violent victimization and violent offending. We tested these hypotheses by using data from the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths, a longitudinal study of Swiss youth (N = 1,013; 11-15 years of age). In line with expectations, path analysis results showed that prior victimization influenced the appraisal of decision-making situations that, in turn, predicted subsequent self-reported violent offending. Importantly, these mediation effects held when controlling for a variety of time-stable factors, such as self-control and risky activities, as well as prior victimization and delinquency. Implications for research and theorizing on the victim-offender overlap are elaborated in the discussion.Prior research has demonstrated a strong association between violent offending and victimization. Victims of violence are likely to commit violent acts themselves, and conversely, offenders have a relatively high probability of being victimized (see Jennings,

Objectives: Examine the long-term effects of two childhood universal prevention programs on adolescent delinquency, substance use, and antisocial behavior. Methods: The cluster randomized controlled trial involved 56 schools and 1,675 children in Zurich, Switzerland. Two evidence-based interventions, namely the social-emotional skills program PATHS and the cognitive-behavioral parenting program Triple P were implemented during the first two years of primary school, at ages 7 and 8. Outcomes were measured at ages 13 and 15 and included youth self-reports and teacher assessments. Multilevel models were used to account for the clustered nature of the interventions. Effects were estimated with inclusion of baseline covariates. Results: Across 13 outcomes related to delinquency, substance use, and antisocial behavior at ages 13 and 15, only two non-negligible effects were found. The first was a reduced prevalence of police contacts in the PATHS condition (ES =-.225). The second was a difference in competent conflict resolution skills in the combined PATHS + Triple P condition compared to the context (ES = .259), but in the unexpected direction: Participants in the combined treatment appeared to be less competent than their control group peers. All other effects were either statistically non-significant or negligible in size (i.e., ES < |.200|). Conclusions: Even 'evidence-based' interventions may have few long-term effects on delinquency, substance use, and antisocial behavior. Our findings add to the small literature on the long-term effectiveness of early universal prevention in field settings.

This study investigated the role of trust beliefs (i.e., trustworthiness, trustfulness) on aggression trajectories in a four-wave longitudinal study using an ethnically diverse sample of 8- to 11-year-old children (N = 1,028), as well as the risk profiles of low trust beliefs and low socioeconomic status on aggression trajectories. At Time 1 to Time 4, teachers provided ratings of overt aggressive behavior. At Time 1, children’s trust beliefs were assessed by a sociometric peer nomination instrument and derived using social relations analysis. Latent growth curve analysis revealed five trajectories of aggressive behavior: high-stable, medium-stable, low-stable, increasing, and decreasing. As hypothesized, children in the high-stable trajectory were perceived as less trustworthy than children in the low-stable, medium-stable, and increasing trajectories. Children in the high-stable trajectory were less trustful than children in the low-stable trajectory and had a significantly higher risk profile (i.e., low trust beliefs and low SES) compared to children in the low-stable trajectory. Our findings indicate that the developmental course of aggression during middle childhood is predicted by children’s trustworthiness and trustfulness. A risk profile of low trust and low socioeconomic status contributes to high-stable aggression trajectories.

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between bullying victimization at age 8 and anxiety and depression at age 11 in a large and ethnically heterogeneous sample from Zurich, Switzerland. Design/methodology/approach-The authors present new analyses from the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youth (z-proso) on the relationship between bullying victimization at age 8 and anxiety and depression at age 11. Findings-Different measures of bullying victimization significantly predicted later anxiety and depression. Differences existed between measures of anxiety and depression from different informants. Originality/value-First, the paper provides readers with an overview of the victimization data collected in z-proso among an ethnically heterogeneous population sample of children in Zurich, Switzerland. Second, it provides results of bivariate and multivariate analyses on the relationship between bullying victimization and internalizing behavior. Third, the authors investigate if their results are robust across different measures of bullying victimization and across measures of anxiety and depression from different informants.