Parental Management and Low Self-control on Digital Piracy

• In Event: Cybercrime and Theory Testing

Abstract

Deviant behaviors on the Internet by adolescents has increased because of increasing technology use. In particular, children and young people are in danger as a result of participating in deviance on the Internet without parental control. This study examined that parental management impacts digital piracy with mediating low self-control based on Gottfredson and Hirschi’s self-control theory. The data from this study were collected by the Korea Institute of Criminology in 2009. The total sample size was 1,091. This study finds strong support for self-control theory’s propositions that parental management negatively influences children’s low self-control, and their low self-control positively impacts digital piracy. Even though computer-specific parental management had no direct and significant influence on digital piracy, it is important to deliver appropriate parenting about computer use due to the fact that it impacts low self-control.

Authors

• Hyunin Baek, University of Louisville

• Michael Losavio, University of Louisville