No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
La coexistencia de la victimización y la conducta problemática en la vida juvenil: una revisión sistemática (scoping review)
Abstract
Tradicionalmente, la Criminología y la Victimología han tratado a la persona como infractor o víctima; sin embargo, una proporción significativa de individuos podría tener los dos tipos de experiencia en un período relativamente corto de tiempo. Este artículo reporta los resultados de una revisión sistemática (scoping review) de los estudios que abordan la coexistencia de la victimización y la conducta delictiva. Identificamos 59 estudios cuyos métodos y resultados se resumen y se acompañan con algunos comentarios críticos.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
School bullying and cyberbullying represent the most common forms of victimization during childhood and adolescence in many countries across the globe. Although they can be studied as distinct phenomena with their own defining characteristics, there is evidence to suggest that they are related and often co-occur. The present research aimed to estimate the rates of school bullying and cyberbullying, studied their evolution by age, and analyzed any possible overlap between the two. An empirical study was carried out with a large sample of children and adolescents in Galicia, Spain (N = 2083), where 10–17 year olds were presented with The European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire and European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire. School bullying was found to be more prevalent than cyberbullying, with 25.1% involved as victims and 14.3% as bully-victims, while the cyberbullying rates were 9.4% for victims and 5.8% for bully-victims. Perpetration rates were similar for school and cyberbullying (4.4% and 4.3% respectively). The overlap between both phenomena adds to the evidence for a whole-community approach to tackling all types of bullying and victimization experiences, as opposed to each in silo. The clear age differences in bullying behaviours also suggest the appropriateness of tailoring anti-bullying programs to target specific age groups.
Research Question
To what extent are victims of violent crime also offenders, and vice versa, with what concentrations of total crime harm across each person who has ever been reported as both a victim and an offender within the study period?
Data
We analyse 27,233 unique individuals who were the subject of violent crime reports to the Peel Regional Police Service in Canada, either as offenders, victims, or both, for crimes reported between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2016. Each individual linked to a violent crime in this period was tracked for the 730 days subsequent to the first crime report naming them.
Methods
We coded each crime with the Canadian Crime Severity Index (CCSI) to calculate victimization and offending harm totals across all incidents for each individual. We then computed each individual’s ratio of total CCSI from victimization to total CCSI from victimization. Based on the distribution of these ratios of CCSI from all offending to all victimization, we show how police can distinguish three categories of victim-offenders (VOs): predominant victims (PVs), predominant offenders (POs), and balanced victim-offenders (BVOs), as well as the single-category absolute offenders (AOs) and absolute victims (AVs).
Findings
Across all 27,233 individuals tracked, 17,138 (64%) appeared first as victims, and 10,095 (36%) appeared first as suspects. Of those appearing first as victims, 997 (6%) are linked to a violent crime as an offender within 730 days. Among those appearing first as offenders, 1019 (10%) are subsequently reported as victimized within 730 days. The total of this combined group (VOs) = 1665 individuals (6% of the entire population). Using a 3.5:1 ratio of victim to offender harm, we subdivide the 1665 VOs further into 322 predominant victims, 280 predominant offenders, and 1063 balanced victim-offenders. The 20% of individuals (n = 5455) with highest harm are linked to 71% of overall harm. On average, predominant offenders (who have also been victimized) are associated with 2.7 times as much harm as absolute offenders, and predominant victims (who have also been offenders) have three times as much harm as absolute victims.
Conclusions
This research shows how combining records of victimization and offending to target higher harm levels with greater potential benefits for police investments in harm reduction and prevention.
Pathways from violence to head injury and poor long-term outcomes have been found among numerous populations, however, have not yet been widely examined with youth exposed to violence. Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are linked to a range of consequences salient to adolescent development and well-being, such as impulsivity, academic abilities, and emotional processing. This gap in research has led to a missed opportunity to understand the consequences of youth victimization, particularly within the academic setting. The current study examined whether head injury and problem behaviors mediate the relationships between victimization and suspension/expulsion using data from the Pathways to Desistance Study, a multi-site, longitudinal study of serious adolescent offenders age 14–18. A sample of male youth who had witnessed violence (n = 1,094) reported a total score of victimization, number of early behavior problems (i.e., cheating, fighting, etc.), ever having a head injury (32.9%), and number of times suspended (adjusted M = 13.13; SD = 19.31) or expelled (adjusted M = 0.65; SD = 0.99). Structural equation modeling was used to examine direct and indirect pathways from victimization to suspension and expulsion through head injury and behavior. Direct pathways from victimization to school discipline were significant; indirect pathways mediated by only head injury were not significant, but indirect pathways through only problem behavior and through TBI and problem behavior were significant for both expulsion and suspension. Results suggest that youth who have been victimized are at higher risk for both suspension and expulsion and that this risk may be, in part, explained through increased head injury and problem behaviors. TBI screenings/services for violence-exposed youth and trauma-informed school-based services may help to deter trajectories toward suspension and expulsion but should be developed with attention to the influence of racial bias on pathways to school discipline.
Empirical research has demonstrated widespread support for the association between violent victimization and offending, or the “victim–offender overlap.” This study adds to this body of research by applying the betrayal trauma framework to investigate whether the relationship between the victim and perpetrator impacts the presence of the victim–offender overlap and whether these effects differ across gender. Specifically, this study utilizes a series of binary logistic regressions to investigate (a) whether violent victimization is associated with violent offending, (b) whether this relationship varies by victim–perpetrator relationship (familial vs. nonfamilial vs. both), and (c) whether the impact of this relationship varies across gender. Data come from the third and most recent wave of the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV III; n = 1,949). Results indicate that violent victimization is associated with violent offending. When disaggregated by perpetrator-type, the results show that experiencing familial-only perpetrated violence and experiencing both familial and nonfamilial perpetrated violence are significantly associated with violent offending while experiencing nonfamilial-only perpetrated violence is not significantly associated with violent offending. Furthermore, the results indicate that the effects of the perpetrator–victim relationship vary across gender, such that the impacts of familial- and nonfamilial-only perpetrated violence were significantly weaker for males compared with females. The effects of experiencing violent victimization from both familial and nonfamilial perpetrators does not vary across genders. These findings lend support to a gender-specific betrayal trauma framework as well as research on the effects of cumulative victimization. Directions for future research and clinical implications are identified.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether cyberbullying and cyber-sexual harassment perpetration serve as antecedents or stepping stones to traditional bullying and sexual harassment, or whether traditional bullying and sexual harassment victimization encourage displacement in the form of anonymous aggressive activities like cyberbullying and cyber-sexual harassment. This research question was evaluated in a sample of 2,039 (52% female) high school students from the Illinois Study of Bullying and Sexual Violence (ISBSV) using two waves of longitudinal data. Two hypotheses were tested in two separate analyses, using bullying and cyberbullying data in one analysis, and sexual harassment and cyber-sexual harassment data in the other analysis. The stepping-stone hypothesis predicted that children would use the anonymity of cyber-bullying/harassment as a stepping stone or learning curve toward eventual involvement in face-to-face bullying/harassment. The displacement hypothesis, by contrast, held that children victimized face-to-face with traditional forms of bullying/harassment would seek release from their victimization by engaging in the largely anonymous activities of cyberbullying and cyber-sexual harassment. In both the bullying and harassment analyses, the pathway running from traditional bullying/harassment victimization to cyber-bullying/harassment perpetration proved significant, consistent with the displacement hypothesis. The pathway running from cyber aggression to traditional aggression failed to achieve significance in both the bullying and harassment analyses, providing no support for the stepping-stone hypothesis. These results imply that anonymity plays an important role in linking traditional and cyber forms of bullying and harassment.
Antisocial behaviors in adolescents are present and prevalent around the world and have harmful consequences for individuals and societies. The research focused on antisocial behaviors in young people has been very fruitful, but studies are usually fragmented and focused on specific problem behaviors either in school or outside of school. Although victim-offender overlap was described in many studies, most projects focused either on victims or on offenders. This prospective longitudinal study was conducted to discover patterns of antisocial behavior from a comprehensive perspective, including different problem behaviors in and out of schools, focusing on both victimization and offending. A sample of 450 early adolescents was followed-up during one school year. Latent class and latent transition analyses were performed and identified four groups of students. These groups were: low antisocial, highly antisocial and victimized, high bullying victimization, and high offending outside of school. Transition analyses showed that the low antisocial and offenders outside of school groups were relatively stable over time. Students in the high bullying victimization group transitioned to different groups, and students in the highly antisocial and victimized group either remained in the highly antisocial group or transitioned to high offending outside of school. Findings suggest that single antisocial behaviors are not common and students who display one problem behavior usually display other problem behaviors. Early adolescents who are involved in antisocial behaviors in one time period frequently remain involved one year later. It is therefore possible that the antisocial potential of some adolescents is expressed in different contexts. This has important implications for research and practice that need to adopt a more holistic and comprehensive approach.
The current study used latent profile analysis to find subgroups of youth based on bullying participant roles and then compared subgroups on the five bystander intervention steps (Notice, Interpret as an emergency, Accept Responsibility, Know how to Intervene, and Act). The sample included 641 fourth–eighth grade students (44.6% boys) who completed two self-report measures of their bullying role involvement and engagement in the five steps of the bystander intervention model. A four-class solution emerged in the latent profile analysis: Victimized Defenders (VD, 46% of the sample, high scores on victim and defender roles), Moderate Involvement (MI, 46% of the sample, involved in all five bullying roles), Bully-Victim-Defenders (BVD, 6%, high scores on bully, victim, and defender), and High Involvement (HI, 2%, high levels of involvement in all roles). These four classes were compared in terms of self-reported engagement in the bystander intervention process. A notable finding is that Victimized Defenders had the lowest level of all bystander steps. A discussion of the findings and directions for future research is provided.
The aim of the study was to investigate the pattern of traditional- and cyberbullying, and fighting involvement and identify its most important correlates in a nationally representative sample. We analyzed the data of Hungarian 11–18-year-old adolescents in the framework of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study. A latent class analysis was performed first and afterwards a multinomial logistic regression analysis to examine factors explaining class membership. Four latent classes were identified: “high probability involvement in all forms of violence”; “low involvement in any forms of violence”; “predominantly involved in traditional bullying and fighting”; “high engagement in online victimization”. As no clear victim or perpetrator group was identified, a high overlap between these violence involvement statuses is reinforced.
The report presents key findings from a review of the research and practice literature concerning trauma in the backgrounds of young people who offend. It aims to highlight what is currently known about trauma within the population of young offenders, and to identify the importance of this knowledge for effective resettlement practice. It focuses on:
• Definitions of trauma and the different ways in which trauma has been understood in the research and practice literature
• The prevalence of different types of traumatic childhood and adolescent experiences in the backgrounds of young offenders
• The effects that such trauma can have on young people in the short-term, and its longer term impacts on emotional, social, and neurological development
• The links between trauma and young people’s behaviour, including the extent of their capacity to comply with youth justice interventions
• The implications that an understanding of trauma and its effects might have for resettlement work undertaken with young custody-leavers
The purpose of the current study was to identify how defending behaviors in bullying overlap with bullying behaviors and victimization experiences using an empirical approach. Furthermore, an additional goal was to examine internalizing problems associated with these bullying role behaviors. Data on students' defending and bullying behaviors, victimization experiences, anxiety, depression, and self-esteem were collected from 700 sixth- through eighth-grade students using the Bully Participant Behaviors Questionnaire, the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders–Child Version, the Center for Epidemiological Studies–Depression, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Results of a latent profile analysis identified the following roles: defenders, bully–victim–defenders, and students who had low involvement in bullying, victimization, and defending. Results documented significant differences in internalizing problems among the roles. Specifically, bully–victim–defenders reported higher levels of depression and anxiety and lower levels of self-esteem than did defenders and students who had low involvement with bullying scenarios.
We investigated, using a cross‐lagged design, the longitudinal association of bullying involvement and peer problems with affective decision‐making in adolescence (ages 11 and 14 years) in 13,888 participants of the Millennium Cohort Study. Affective decision‐making (risk‐taking, quality of decision‐making, risk adjustment, deliberation time, and delay aversion) was measured with the Cambridge Gambling Task, bullying involvement (bully, bully–victim, victim, or ‘neutral’ status) with self‐report measures, and peer problems with the parent‐reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. In general, peer problems were associated with decision‐making in the unadjusted model but not after controlling for confounding. However, bullying involvement was related to decision‐making even after adjustment. Compared to ‘neutral’ males, bullies and bully–victims improved over time in risk adjustment, and bully–victims in deliberation time, too. In both sexes, bullies showed more risk‐taking compared to their ‘neutral’ counterparts. It seems that bullies are more sensitive to reward (or less sensitive to punishment) than those not involved in bullying. The finding that male bullies show improvement in decision‐making warrants further research.
Statement of contribution
What is already known on this subject?
In adults, decision‐making deficits and social exclusion or rejection are linked
In youth, only two studies have explored this link with gambling tasks measuring real‐world difficulties in decision‐making.
Both studies were cross‐sectional and small‐scale.
What does this study add?
We explore this link in adolescence, using a large, general population longitudinal sample and the Cambridge Gambling Task.
Bullies were more sensitive to reward (or less sensitive to punishment) than those not involved in bullying.
Male bullies improved over time in risk adjustment, a finding that warrants further research.
Purpose: Claims of a victim-offender overlap have been substantiated in the literature. However, little is known about the joint occurrence of victimization and offending in the Asian context. Methods: Using a sample of 892 secondary school students, this study aims to explore the phenomenon of overlap between offending and victimization among Hong Kong adolescents. Grounded by theoretical propositions of criminological theories (i.e., social learning, self-control, social control, general strain, and routine activity), the adolescents' prevalence of general, violent, and nonviolent offending perpetration and victimization are examined. Results: Findings reveal that different types of offending perpetration and victimization are positively correlated, and multivariate analyses confirmed the link between these two experiences. Logistic regressions indicate that offending perpetration significantly predicted victimization, regardless of the type of offending behavior (general, violent, and nonviolent), with an increase likelihood between 337% and 792%. Bivariate probit models demonstrate a considerable degree of overlap between different types of offending perpetration and victimization. The rho correlations from the unadjusted bivariate probit models suggest the significant overlapping categories of general (80%), violent (75%), and nonviolent (85%) offending. Conclusions: Having high levels of pro-violence attitudes and of a deviant peer influence are found to be a general risk of engaging in offending behavior and of falling prey to victimization. Specifically, deviant peer influence is the only significant risk factor for the joint occurrence of violent offending and violent victimization, while social bonding and deviant peer influence are significant risk factors for the joint occurrence of nonviolent offending and nonviolent victimization. Implications for practice are discussed.
The relationship between victimization and offending, also referred to as the victim-offender overlap, is widely documented. While crime victims do not always become offenders, most offenders have been victims. The victimization experience can produce negative physical, mental, and behavioral outcomes in individuals and some may go on to commit their own crimes. This article outlines leading theoretical explanations for the victim-offender overlap, factors that influence victimization and offending, and recommendations for practitioners to address violent victimization and prevent subsequent offending.
Research has established the nature and prevalence of offline Adolescent Dating Violence (ADV) and the role of Technology-Assisted Adolescent Dating Violence (TAADV) has been recently but slowly acknowledged, albeit primarily in the United States. Less research however, has examined such types of violence among British adolescences and the extent of overlap between the two forms of abuse. This paper examines the nature, prevalence and overlap of TAADV and offline ADV victimisation/instigation among a sample of adolescents in England. Four-hundred-and-sixty-nine adolescents (aged 12–18) completed questionnaires regarding their experience of TAADV and ADV. Findings revealed that TAADV involvement was prevalent and was generally characterised by both victimisation and instigation, except for sexual TAADV in which females were more likely to be identified as victims only. Technology appears to have provided new opportunities for victimisation and/or instigation of TAADV exclusively that may not have been possible before the development of such communication tools; however, some adolescents reported experiencing both TAADV and ADV. Implications of the findings are discussed and recommendations are made for future policy, practice and research.
Although an increasing number of studies have examined offending and victimization in China, little is known about the extent of the victim–offender overlap and what factors may explain differential tendencies toward offending versus victimization in the Chinese context. To fill this gap and to broaden the empirical base of the current literature on the victim–offender overlap, we examine the association of a number of prominent theoretical constructs with overall violent encounters and role differentiation. Using data collected from over 2,000 students from six schools in Changzhi, a city in Northern China, and multilevel item response theory modeling, we find a nontrivial overlap between violent offending and victimization and differential tendencies toward offending versus victimization. We also find that most of our theoretical constructs are associated with overall violent encounters, but only moral beliefs, peer delinquency, drinking, and gender are related to role differentiation. Findings for theory and research are discussed. © 2018 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology.
Research shows that violent victimization and offending often overlap, and that both outcomes may be related to a risky lifestyle. The author therefore aimed to examine the associations between a risky lifestyle and the probability of being involved in violence as a victim only, offender only, or as a victim-offender, compared with being a total abstainer. In multinomial logistic regression models with data from a sample of adolescents (N = 490), a risky lifestyle was related to a higher probability of crime involvement across all groups compared with total abstainers. However, the significance of specific indicators of a risky lifestyle varied across the different outcomes. Spending a lot of time in the city center at night and frequently being inebriated were related to a higher risk of being a victim only, whereas peer deviance increased the risk for being an offender only. Frequent exposure to criminogenic settings and often being inebriated were related to a higher risk of being a victim-offender. The results indicate that studies on crime involvement and lifestyle must consider each kind of involvement separately. However, not many girls were involved in violent crime as offenders only or victim-offenders, indicating that girls may have risky lifestyles without committing acts of violence.
Background
Child peer violence is a global problem and seriously impacts children’s physical and psychological health, and their education outcomes. There are few research studies on children’s peer violence available in South Asian countries, particularly in Afghanistan. This paper describes the prevalence of children’s peer violence perpetration and victimization and associated factors among school children in Afghanistan.
Methods
A total of 770 children were recruited into a baseline study conducted as part of an intervention evaluation in 11 schools (seven girls’ and four boys’ schools). All children were interviewed with a questionnaire developed for the study. The main outcome is a three-level peer violence variable consisting of (a) no violence, (b) victimization only, or (c) perpetration (with or without victimization). Peer violence victimization was measured through the Multidimensional Peer-Victimization Scale, and peer violence perpetration was measured through an adjusted version of the same scale with wording changed to measure perpetration.
Results
49.7% of boys and 43.3% of girls reported having experienced more than one instance of violence victimization in the past month, and 31.7% of boys and 17.6% of girls disclosed perpetration of more than one instance of violence in the past month, with considerable overlap found between experience of victimization and perpetration, particularly among boys. Multinomial models of factors associated with peer violence show that for boys, food insecurity was associated with perpetration of peer violence but not with victimization, and experiencing corporal punishment at school in the last month was significantly associated with both peer victimization and perpetration. For girls, food insecurity, more depressive symptoms and experiencing any beating at home were associated with both violence victimization and perpetration. Having a disability was associated with victimization only, and having witnessed their father fighting and experiencing any kind of corporal punishment were associated with peer violence perpetration only.
Discussion
Peer violence in Afghanistan is linked to food insecurity, exposure of children to witnessing family violence, and children’s experience of physical violence at home and corporal punishment at school. School-based settings provide an important platform for interventions to reduce and prevent peer violence; however, such interventions may benefit from broader violence-prevention initiatives conducted at the community level.
A substantial amount of research has revealed that cyberbully-victims have more emotional and behavioral problems than either cyberbullying victims or perpetrators. However, until now, little research has been conducted into the factors that contribute to the interplay between cyberbullying victimization and perpetration. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between cyberbullying victimization, perpetration, and emotional components of alexithymia, namely difficulties in identifying and describing one's own feelings. Self-report questions were administered to 1549 adolescents between 12 and 18 years old (M = 14.51; SD = 1.68; 42.1% [n = 562] male) from Germany and Thailand. Results showed that cyberbullying victimization and alexithymia are associated with cyberbullying perpetration. Moreover, alexithymia mediated the associations between cyberbullying victimization and adolescents' cyberbullying perpetration. Consequently, we suggest that the ability to describe and identify one's own feelings might be important for understanding the link between cyberbullying, victimization and perpetration. The results may help develop prevention and intervention programs focused on reducing cyberbullying.
Possible links of cyberbullying with suicide and psychological problems have recently received considerable attention. Suicide-related behaviours have also been linked with viewing of associated web-content. Studies on traditional bullying indicate that the roles of bullying involvement (bullies, victims and bully-victims) matter in terms of associations with specific suicide-related behaviours and psychological problems. Yet, related research in the area of cyberbullying is lacking. The current study investigates the association of cyberbullying roles with viewing of specific suicide-related web-content and psychological problems. Data from N = 19,406 (50% girls) 11-16 year olds (M = 13.54, SD = 1.68) of a representative sample of internet using children in Europe were analysed. Self- reports were obtained for cyberbullying role, viewing of web-content related to self-harm and suicide as well as the emotional, peer and conduct problems subscales of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Multi-nomial logistic regression analyses revealed that compared to those not involved in cyberbullying, viewing of web-content related to suicide was higher for cybervictims and cyberbully-victims but not for cyberbullies. Viewing of web-content related to self-harm was higher for all cyberbullying roles but especially for cyberbully-victims. Rates of emotional problems were higher among cybervictims and cyberbully-victims, rates of peer problems were higher for cybervictims, and rates of conduct problems were higher for all cyberbullying roles. Moreover, the links between cyberbullying role and viewing of suicide-related web-content were independent of psychological problems. The results can be useful to more precisely target efforts towards the specific problems of each cyberbullying role. The outcomes on viewing of web-content also indicate an opportunity to enhance the presence of health service providers on internet platforms.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) research often focuses on either the victims of IPV or the perpetrators
of IPV. Recent studies have documented the existence of a group of victim-perpetrators, for example,
they perpetrate IPV and are also the victims of IPV. The current study examines this overlap in
IPV perpetration and victimization among a nationally representative, longitudinal sample of 1,488
Hispanics with a focus on generational status. Results from group-based trajectory models and
survey multinomial regression techniques suggest that alcohol and marijuana use over time are
salient risk factors for IPV perpetration, IPV victimization, and IPV overlap. Study limitations and
implications are discussed.
Victimization and offending are problems linked to youth. This article is about the victim offender overlap, which is a phenomenon where a person's offending activity and victimization experiences are positively correlated. It highlights the victim-offender overlap, which is a well-documented empirical fact. Although persistent, there are few criminological theories about the victim-offender correlation and this article focuses on insights offered by some of the leading criminological theories, particularly cultural deviance, strain, control, and life-course perspectives. It interprets victim-offender overlap from this vantage point and examines the implications of a life-course approach to the study of the victim-offender overlap. In sum, it provides a review that indicates that the victim-offender nexus is not well understood, notwithstanding the vast literature connecting childhood victimization and mistreatment to offending. Finally, it poses a few questions that are vital to understanding victim-offender correlation, but are unanswered so far.
Objectives
Gang members are more likely to be victimized violently than non-gang youth, but the extent to which this relationship is confounded, direct, or mediated remains unclear. This study responds to recent calls by scholars for more methodologically sound research in this area with the goal of uncovering the pathways between gang membership and violent victimization.
Methods
Using a school-based longitudinal sample of adolescents, the current study uses Preacher and Hayes multiple mediator structural equation modeling and counterfactual methodology to test whether and which theoretical pathways—self-control, cultural orientations, routine activity, and lifestyle theory—mediate the contemporaneous and prospective effects of gang membership on violent victimization.
Results
The results indicate that 27 % of the contemporaneous effects of gang membership on victimization is attributable to selection, with the remaining 73 % endogenous to gang membership, supporting Thornberry et al.’s (J Res Crime Delinquency 30:55–87, 1993) enhancement model. Entry into a gang increases risk taking, temper, self-centeredness, negative peer commitment, neutralization of violence, aggressive conflict resolution, unstructured socializing, and delinquency, and decreases empathy and positive peer commitment. The contemporaneous gang membership-victimization link was fully mediated, due almost entirely to delinquency. Prospective models reveal a gang membership-victimization link that is fully confounded by selection, although attrition and desistance from gangs may be responsible for this finding.
Conclusions
The existing risky attitudes and behaviors of youth who select into gangs matters a great deal for understanding the gang membership-victimization link, but these very risks are exacerbated upon entry into a gang. Our mediation findings suggest that interventions targeting highly delinquent gang members should pay dual dividends of reducing delinquency and victimization.
Although research on the age–crime curve has made significant advances in the past few decades, the understanding of victimization has not benefited to the same degree. The present study examines the age–victim curve to explore victimization trajectories, which increases understanding of risks over time through different life pathways. Using data from the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey, a national longitudinal survey in England and Wales, trajectory modeling is used to estimate different violent victimization trajectories for people aged 10 to 29 over four years of data. Analyses indicate the presence of four distinct victimization trajectories, including: rarely victimized; young adult victims; childhood victims; and chronically victimized. Further analyses indicated that young adult victims often were connected to intimate partner violence, whereas childhood victims often were victimized by other students.
Reviews of primary research are becoming more common as evidence-based practice gains recognition as the benchmark for care, and the number of, and access to, primary research sources has grown. One of the newer review types is the 'scoping review'. In general, scoping reviews are commonly used for 'reconnaissance' - to clarify working definitions and conceptual boundaries of a topic or field. Scoping reviews are therefore particularly useful when a body of literature has not yet been comprehensively reviewed, or exhibits a complex or heterogeneous nature not amenable to a more precise systematic review of the evidence. While scoping reviews may be conducted to determine the value and probable scope of a full systematic review, they may also be undertaken as exercises in and of themselves to summarize and disseminate research findings, to identify research gaps, and to make recommendations for the future research. This article briefly introduces the reader to scoping reviews, how they are different to systematic reviews, and why they might be conducted. The methodology and guidance for the conduct of systematic scoping reviews outlined below was developed by members of the Joanna Briggs Institute and members of five Joanna Briggs Collaborating Centres.
A robust correlation exists between victimization and adolescent offending, but questions remain about how strongly subtypes of victimization may influence offending as well as the relative impact of victimization versus non-victimization adversities on offending. Drawing on General Strain Theory, we argue that interpersonal victimization may promote several types of offending more strongly than other adverse childhood experiences, that physical victimization by parents may have a particularly strong influence on offending, and that these relationships may depend partly on gender. Using a nationally representative sample of 10–17-year-olds, we test a priori hypotheses concerning the association between victimization and offending among males and females. Net of controls, results reveal that physical victimization by parents is more strongly related to violent offending than other forms of physical victimization and that property victimization is associated with both violent and property offending. Results suggest the victimization-offender overlap applies to both males and females, but victimization does not explain a significant portion of the gender gap in offending. Implications of this research are that an accurate portrayal of the victim-offender overlap requires consideration of victimization and offending subtypes and that prevention efforts should be guided by trauma-informed care paying particular attention to family dynamics.
Criminological theory developed without an expectation of a victim–offender overlap. Among most crime theorists and policymakers, to solve crime it is necessary to solve the criminal offender. Modern choice theories took a different view by evolving from victim data, treating target vulnerability as essential to the criminal act and with full awareness of the overlap. Here, we discuss the emphasis on offenders in criminology as being inconsistent with the facts of the overlap. The evidence shows that the victim–offender overlap is consistently found, implying that offending and victimization arise for similar substantive reasons and that offenders act principally in response to targets. This conclusion has important implications. First, any theory of crime that cannot logically predict the overlap as a fact may be subject to falsification. Second, the choice perspective suggests a theory of precautionary behavior, which urges a policy agenda that encourages actions against crime by potential targets.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Criminology, Volume 5 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
Despite the substantive evidence on the victim-offender overlap from various national contexts, comprehensive examinations for Germany are lacking. This article provides insights into peer group-related correlates of the victim-offender overlap by specifically differentiating the roles of victims, offenders, and victim-offenders. The analysis examines risk factors for involvement in violence using a sample of 3,519 14- and 16-year-old students from a large crime study conducted in Germany. Applying multinomial logistic regression, the risk of being a victim-only, offender-only, or victim-offender is predicted by peer group characteristics such as frequency of meeting, group composition, delinquent norms, and routine activities with friends. The results show that proximity to friends and delinquent norms of peers significantly influence victimization, offending, and the victim-offender overlap. Regarding group composition, violent offending and being a victim-offender occurred more often in male-dominated mixed-gender friend groups, whereas victimization risk is not affected by group composition. Frequent alcohol consumption within the group is associated with victimization risk and the victim-offender overlap, whereas going out is associated with offending and the overlap. The findings underline that the peer context is not only of importance for explaining delinquency but also for unraveling victimization and the victim-offender overlap.
Research indicates truancy and being bullied (otherwise called bully victimization) are independently linked to violent offending. We examine the associations between truancy, bully victimization, and violent offending in a sample of young people who participated in the Ability School Engagement Program (ASEP) truancy reduction experiment. Pre-intervention, half of the sample reported missing school because they were being bullied. Experiment and control participants both exhibited significant reductions in bully victimization and missing school because of bully victimization. Neither groups exhibited significant reductions in violent offending. Contrasting expectations, participants in the control group had significantly larger reductions in missing school because of bully victimization. Post-intervention measures of bully victimization were significantly related to higher odds of violent offending. Bully victimization is a critical factor in understanding the nexus between truancy and violent offending which, if neglected in an intervention (like ASEP) can lead to backfire effects for young people.
Objective
Cyberbullying involvement carries mental health risks for adolescents, although post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms have not received strong attention in the UK. This study aimed to assess the overlap between cyber and traditional (ie, face-to-face) bullying, and the relationship to PTS symptoms in UK adolescents.
Design
A cross-sectional survey.
Setting
Four secondary schools in London,UK.
Participants
2218 secondary school students (11–19 years).
Main outcome measures
The Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire and the Children Revised Impact of Events Scale.
Results
There was a significant overlap between traditional bullying and cyberbullying. However, cyberperpetrators were less frequently involved in concurrent traditional bullying. Of 2218 pupils, 46% reported a history of any kind of bullying (34% were involved in traditional bullying and 25% in cyberbullying), 17% as victims, 12% as perpetrators, and 4% as both victims and perpetrators. A significant proportion of those who were cybervictims (n=280; 35%), cyberbullies (n=178; 29.2%) or cyberbully-victims (n=77; 28.6%) presented clinically significant PTS symptoms. Cybervictims (both cyber-only and cyberbully-victims) suffered more intrusion (p=0.003; p<0.001) and avoidance (p=0.005; p<0.001) than cyberbullies. However, cyberbullies still suffered more PTS symptoms than the non-involved (intrusion: z =−3.67, p=0.001; avoidance: z =−3.57, p=0.002). Post-traumatic stress symptoms were significantly predicted (R ² =13.6) by cyber and traditional victimisation.
Conclusions
Cyberbullying, as victim only or as a victim-perpetrator, seems to be associated with multiple types of PTS symptoms. Cyber and traditional victimisation significantly predicted intrusion and avoidance. Paediatricians, general practitioners and mental health professionals need to be aware of possible PTS symptoms in young people involved in cyberbullying. Screening and early cost-effective treatments could be implemented.
Bullying victimization is linked to numerous undesirable outcomes which are likely to affect victims over the life course. The current study incorporates data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997) and draws from Agnew’s General Strain Theory to estimate the effects of bullying victimization on depressive symptoms and delinquency. Results suggest repeated bullying victimization increases depressive symptoms in adolescence for both males and females (ages 12 to 16). The results also indicate that it is problematic to assess delinquent outcomes for bullying victimization independent of mediating mental health factors, namely depressive symptoms. Additionally, depressive symptoms mediate the bullying victimization and delinquent relationship for females but not males. A discussion pertaining to relevant policy implications and future research investigating the delinquent outcomes of bullying victimization is provided.
The present study examined consequences of a well-established criminological phenomenon, the victim-offender overlap, and how its prevalence and effects are influenced by the inclusion of indirect victimization, an often overlooked form of victimization. Specifically, we examined how experiencing and/or witnessing victimization, engaging in delinquent behavior, and the combination of these experiences (i.e., the victim-offender overlap) influence an adolescent’s expectations for achievement in work, family, and law-abiding behavior in adulthood. Using data from Pathways to Desistance, a longitudinal study of adolescent offenders, we distinguished between direct and indirect victimization, as well as proximal and distal victimization and offending experiences, to assess their independent and collective effects. Findings demonstrate the importance of considering the consequences of indirect victimization, the combination of victimization and offending experiences influence how adolescents perceive their futures, and more distal experiences with crime are not predictive of expectations for success in adulthood.
This study investigated the links between students' behavioral problems, student–teacher conflict, and students' involvement in bully, victim, and bully/victim roles in adolescence. The role of student–teacher conflict as moderator of the association between students' behavioral problems and their involvement in each bullying role was examined. Sample included 430 students from Italy (48.4% female; mean age 12.2 years; grades 6–8). Multinomial logistic regression analyses indicated that conduct problems positively predicted engagement in each bullying role, while peer-relationship problems predicted involvement in a victim role. Additionally, students experiencing higher student–teacher conflict were more likely of being victims and bully/victims, but not bullies. Finally, student–teacher conflict emerged as a moderator of the association between peer-relationship problems and both bully and victim roles, and between hyperactivity/inattention and victim role. These findings highlights the importance of considering students’ characteristics in relation to student–teacher relationship quality when investigating the factors influencing students' involvement in bullying behaviors.
The current study applied an opportunity perspective and an individual trait approach to explain the link between bullying perpetration and victimization among early adolescents in South Korea. This study addressed direct effects of low self-control and lifestyle factors on bullying victimization as well as mediating effects of lifestyles on the link between low self-control and bullying victimization. Also, this study examined an indirect effect of low self-control on bullying victimization through bullying perpetration. The sample consisted of 2,844 fourth grade South Korean students who were followed for 5 years (through eighth grade). Findings revealed that (a) lower self-control was positively associated with bullying victimization; (b) affiliation with bullies and bullying perpetration predicted bullying victimization; (c) a significant overlap was found between bullying perpetration and victimization; and (d) low levels of self-control predicted bullying, which in turn contributed to an increased risk of bullying victimization. The study also discussed research implications.
The victim–offender overlap is currently under discussion in criminology. However, the connection between victimization and offending over the life course still requires further investigation. The present study examines whether the victim–offender overlap is invariant during the transition from adolescence to early adulthood using seven consecutive waves of the German Research Foundation– funded self-report study “Crime in the Modern City,” which contain information about German students from the age of 14 to 20 years. The results indicate that the nature as well as the strength of the overlap changes over the period from adolescence to early adulthood. The introduced measurement of the relative victim–offender overlap indicates that with growing up, fewer
victims are also offenders whereas the amount of offenders that are also victims remains stable. Longitudinal analyses based on latent growth and cross-lagged panel models further point out that the developments of victimization and offending are highly parallel processes that evince similar stability and mutual influence over the phase of youth and adolescence. However, the association between both weakens over age. In conclusion, our results suggest variance in the victim–offender overlap over the life course. This justifies the demand for further research and theory development on this criminological phenomenon.
Sex composition of groups has been theorized in organizational sociology and found in prior work to structure female and male members’ behaviors and experiences. Peer group and gang literature similarly finds that the sex gap in offending varies across groups of differing sex ratios. Drawing on this and other research linking gang membership, offending, and victimization, we examine whether sex composition of gangs is linked to sex differences in offending in this sample, further assess whether sex composition similarly structures females’ and males’ victimization experiences, and if so, why. Self-report data from gang members in a multi-site, longitudinal study of 3,820 youths are employed. Results support previous findings about variations in member delinquency by both sex and sex composition of the gang and also indicate parallel variations in members’ victimization. These results are further considered within the context of facilitating effects such as gender dynamics, gang characteristics, and normative orientation.
Purpose
The relationship between exposure to violence and adverse behavioral outcomes is well-documented. But, heterogeneity in this relationship across different operational strategies for exposure to violence is less well understood. This study examines the effects of repeat victimization, exposure to different types of violence, and poly-victimization on property crime, violent offending, and substance use.
Methods
We analyze two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 12,603). We operationalize exposure to violence as: a dichotomous indicator of overall occurrence; exposure to multiple incidents of violence (repeat exposure); types of exposure to violence (witnessed, threatened, and experienced violence); and poly-victimization (i.e., repeat exposure to violence and exposure to multiple types of violence).
Results
Exposure to violence – regardless of how it is measured – increases offending risk. The strongest effects are observed for poly-victimization, followed by repeat exposure to violence and exposure to a single episode of violence. There is little variation in effect sizes across types of exposure to violence.
Conclusions
The results speak to the utility of preventing the onset of exposure to violence and addressing ongoing exposure to violence in order to interrupt the link between exposure to violence and offending.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to compare intervening mechanisms proposed by general strain theory and the control model of criminal lifestyle theory as explanations for the strain–behavior relationship.
Methods
In this study strain was defined as bullying victimization, behavior was operationalized as delinquency, and the two mediators were anger and cognitive impulsivity. Analyses were completed on a group of 572 early adolescent schoolchildren from the Illinois Study of Bullying and Sexual Victimization (ISBSV). A causal mediation analysis was performed with prospective data from the ISBSV, with six months between the independent and mediator variables and six months between the mediator and dependent variables.
Results
The outcome of the analyses indicated that cognitive impulsivity but not anger mediated the victimization–delinquency relationship, although the two pathways did not differ significantly from one another.
Conclusions
These findings provide preliminary support for the mediating mechanism proposed by the control model of criminal lifestyle theory (i.e., cognitive impulsivity).
The strong positive association between offending and victimization, or the victim–offender overlap, has received considerable amount of research attention in recent years. Empirical research has made important strides in unpacking the sources of the phenomenon, but important questions remain unanswered. Ambiguity surrounds the utility of certain theoretical explanations for the overlap, the nature of the phenomenon, and the methodological tools used to examine its etiology. Owing to these knowledge gaps, the scientific meaning of the victim–offender overlap is unclear. Moreover, a number of potentially important theoretical arguments are rarely subject to empirical testing in this line of research. The purpose of this article is to use a narrative review methodology to provide a critical reappraisal of the theoretical, empirical, and methodological research on the victim–offender overlap and offer directions for ways forward to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon. This review includes critical analysis of 78 academic publications, along with a table that summarizes the key findings and conclusions from 18 critical empirical studies that have contributed to our understanding of the victim–offender overlap. We offer recommendations for the continued development of theoretical and methodological tools to better understand this complex phenomenon.
Children who are abused at home are at an increased risk of bullying perpetration and bullying victimization. Within that context, the purpose of the present study was to test Agnew's general strain theory and the peer deviancy training hypothesis by utilizing structural equation modeling to empirically examine pathways linking punitive parenting to bullying perpetration and bullying victimization. This study adds to the literature in two important ways. First, potential mediating linkages between punitive parenting and bullying perpetration and bullying victimization were examined, including socially withdrawn behavior and deviant peer affiliation. Second, these relationships were considered in a longitudinal sample of South Korean adolescents, which is a novel examination given that parenting in South Korea is guided largely by Confucianism which reinforces parental control, restrictiveness, and a punitive nature. Results indicate that: (1) punitive parenting is directly related to bullying perpetration but not bullying victimization; (2) punitive parenting was found to have indirect effects only on bullying perpetration; (3) deviant peer affiliation increased the likelihood of bullying perpetration and victimization; and (4) socially withdrawn behavior only affected bullying perpetration via its effect on deviant peer affiliation.
An emerging line of research has begun to reveal that victims of crime share many characteristics with offenders, leading to the conclusion that the victim-offender overlap is quite substantial. Though research suggests victims and offenders are both likely to display signs of low self-control and to share certain lifestyle factors, few studies have sought to systematically analyze the various factors that converge (or diverge) across different groups: victims, offenders, victim-offenders, and total abstainers. Using data obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), we examined the risk factors associated with being classified into each of the four groups. Results revealed that victim-offenders—compared to others—tended to have the highest scores on risk factors for victimization and offending. Conversely, total abstainers tended to score the lowest on measures considered risk factors. Respondents classified as victim only and those classified as offender only were positioned somewhere between victim-offenders and total abstainers in terms of their level of exposure to risk factors. These findings may indicate that victim-offenders are a statistical group in need of greater attention, especially given the benefits that could extend to the broader population if successful outcomes through intervention were realized.
Objectives
This study measured bullying roles across an academic year and examined how change in bullying experiences is associated with symptoms of depression, psychological distress, and suicidal ideation among adolescents in Vietnam.
Methods
1424 students in middle and high schools completed two self-administered questionnaires, six months apart in 2014–2015.
Results
Students who were victimised often and those who were classified as highly involved as both victims and bullies at one or both survey times showed significantly higher levels of depression, psychological distress, and suicidal ideation than other students. The mental health of adolescents who were involved in bullying as a victim or bully remained at low levels was generally similar to those not involved in any bullying. However, females who had stable but low level in victimisation or bully–victim status had worse mental health than males with stable-low-level exposure.
Conclusion
This is the first longitudinal analysis of bullying among adolescents in Vietnam. Persistent and frequent bullying was strongly linked with poor mental health for males and females. A new observation is that Vietnamese girls appear to be more sensitive to low level but long-term bullying involvement than were boys.
This meta-analytic review includes 135 studies, representing 17 countries, of child and adolescent (ages 4-17) samples of overt and relational peer victimization and examines the magnitude of overlap between forms of victimization and associations with five social-psychological adjustment indices. Results indicate a strong intercorrelation between forms of victimization (r¯ = .72). No gender difference with regard to relational victimization was found, but boys were slightly higher in overt victimization. Overt victimization is more strongly associated with overt aggression; relational victimization is more strongly related to internalizing problems, lower levels of received prosocial behavior from peers, and relational aggression. Both forms are related to externalizing problems. Age and method of assessment were explored as potential sources of variability in effect sizes.
The literature on bullying among students with disabilities is burgeoning. The purpose of this study was to examine risk factors for adolescents’ involvement in bullying across the bullying continuum. Drawing from the National Longitudinal Transition Study–2 (NLTS2), 2,870 adolescents with disabilities were sampled. Results from multinomial regression analyses indicated that internalizing symptoms and interpersonal skills were significant predictors of victimization and bully-victimization risk, respectively. Disability status emerged as a significant predictor only for bullying behavior. Ethnic differences were found for victimization roles, but not for bullying, suggesting that Caucasian students were most vulnerable to being the target of bullying or serving dual roles as bully-victims relative to students from other ethnic backgrounds. Implications for these findings are discussed.
This chapter considers the properties of the age-crime curve. It revisits factors-such as neighborhoods, cohorts, and impulsivity-that influence the height and the breadth of the curve. It shows by means of simulation studies that interventions are likely to reduce the curve and, thereby, decrease the prevalence of offenders in populations of young people.