Adolescent Online Victimization: A Test of Routine Activities Theory (Criminal Justice: Recent Scholarship)

Marcum investigates Internet usage among college freshmen, their experiences with online victimization, and their relationships with online contacts. She finds that participating in online behaviors and activities that increased exposure to motivated offenders and target suitability also increased the likelihood of victimization, as well as formation of relationships with online contacts. Communicating with people met online and providing personal information over the Internet are significant predictors of the dependent variables for the entire sample, as well as for males and females when examined separately. Conversely, taking protective measures against victimization to improve guardianship did not decrease the likelihood of victimization.