The Effects of Self-control on the Cyber Victim-Offender Overlap

Abstract

Increasingly, the overlap between victims and offenders has received empirical attention with regard to traditional forms of deviance. More recently, the growth of cyber offending has led to a need to examine whether traditional criminological theories can be used to explain these crimes in the same manner as traditional offenses. However, limited attention has been given to victim-offender overlap in cyber-offending. The current study uses a sample of American college students to examine the influence of self-control on cyber offending, cyber victimization, and the cyber victim-offender overlap. The results indicate that low self-control significantly predicts participation in cyber offending as well as cyber victim-offending, but has a weak relationship with cyber victimization. Interestingly, associating with deviant cyber peers was a significant predictor across all models. Results are discussed in the context of the existing literature.