Latent class profiles of cyber deviance among Australian adolescents

• In Event: Youth pathways into cybercrime: Results from the South Australia Digital Youth Project

Abstract

There is minimal research investigating the nature and extent of delinquent behaviour that occurs in the online context, and the mediums (i.e., types of devices) and skill sets associated with differential patterns of cyber-deviance. To investigate this issue, the current study uses self-report data from 1,793 grade 8 students (approximately 13-14 years of age) from schools across the state of South Australia. Students were asked questions about the frequency of their engagement with social media, routine internet use (i.e., using search engines), and specialised digital device tasks (i.e., coding), as well as their engagement in various forms of cyber-deviance. Latent Class Analysis revealed four distinct cyber-deviance profiles that included: students who abstained from cyber-deviance related activities; students who engaged in cyber-bullying; students who pirated online content (e.g., music, movies etc.); and, students who engaged in a wide range of versatile cyber-deviance activities. Multinomial logistic regression models revealed that males who more frequently engaged with social media and were characterised by high levels of technical proficiency were more likely to be classified into any of the cyber-delinquency classes, relative to the abstainer group. However, this effect appeared to be greatest for the versatile cyber-delinquency group.

Authors

• Tyson Whitten, University of New South Wales

• Russell Brewer, University of Adelaide

• Jesse Cale, University of New South Wales

• Thomas Holt, Michigan State University

• Andrew John Goldsmith, Flinders University