Impacts of online risky behaviors and cybersecurity management on cyberbullying and traditional bullying victimization among Korean youth: Application of cyber-routine activities theory with latent class analysis

Publication date: Available online 19 June 2019Source: Computers in Human BehaviorAuthor(s): Kyung-Shick Choi, Sujung Cho, Jin Ree LeeAbstractPrevious studies have demonstrated that higher Internet and digital technology usage increases adolescents’ likelihood of experiencing online victimization, including cyberbullying victimization. Despite the rise in cyberbullying incidents among adolescents, few empirical studies have discussed plausible explanations for how online lifestyles and cybersecurity management influence cyberbullying victimization in comparison to traditional bullying. Using a sample of 7109 Korean adolescents (female 52.9%; age range 13–17) from the Korean Institute of Criminology (2014), this study used Latent Class Analysis to identify subgroups that exhibit similar (i.e., class homogeneity) and dissimilar (i.e., class separation) patterns of bullying victimization across subgroups. The findings revealed that adolescents who engaged in risky online leisure activities, online lifestyle activities, and online risky social networking activities were more likely to be victimized by cyberbullying than those who engaged less frequently in the aforementioned behaviors. In addition, adolescents who more frequently engaged in online lifestyle activities and online risky social networking activities were at higher risk of being victimized by cyberbullying compared to traditional bullying.
Source: Computers in Human Behavior - Category: Information Technology Source Type: research