Young cyberspace cowboys versus traditional juvenile street hustlers: New kid in town or just an expansion of criminal territory to cyberspace? (P162)

• In Event: Poster session

Abstract

Offline youth crime statistics generally show downward trends. However, digitized and cybercriminal youth behaviours (e.g. hacking, sexting, online threat) keep on rising. In order to be effective, prevention and intervention programs should focus on dynamic protective and risk factors of perpetrators (Risk-Need-Responsivity model; Andrews & Bonta, 2007). Therefore, more knowledge is needed on the following general research questions: ‘Which risk and protective factors are strongest related to youth online delinquent behaviours?’ and ‘What role may parent-child interactions, parenting and peer factors play in the protection of youngsters who are already vulnerable for online delinquent behaviours, because of their individual characteristics?’. The poster presents a PhD project that starts this year in the Netherlands and includes multilevel meta-analyses of risk and protective factors for online (versus offline) youth delinquent behaviours, a two-wave questionnaire study at secondary and vocational training schools, an experimental (with manipulation of adult supervision and peer dimensions) and interview study (in which findings are discussed with youngsters themselves). Specific research questions that will be answered are:
1) Are online disinhibited youngsters low on self-control in general?;
2) How are online disinhibition and general (offline) self-control longitudinally related to parenting dimensions and, ultimately, to online delinquent behaviours?;
3) Do general self-control and online disinhibition moderate the relations between other individual characteristics (e.g. introversion, narcistic and autistic traits) and online delinquent behaviours?;
4) Do youngsters with positive parenting dimensions show a) higher internalization of norms (mediator) and, ultimately, b) lower risks for online delinquent behaviours, also when adult supervision is absent (moderator)?;
5) Do parents simply ‘expand’ their parenting to the online domain?;
6) Do individual characteristics of youngsters influence (off- and online) parenting dimensions?;
7) Do positive peer dimensions (peer acceptance, good quality of peer relations, positive peer pressure) moderate the relations between individual characteristics and online delinquent behaviours?

Authors

• Inge Wissink, Utrecht University

• Ellen Reitz, Utrecht University

• Jessica Asscher, Utrecht University

• Maja Deković, Utrecht University