Co-Occurrence of Online and Offline Victimization: A Latent Class Analysis in University Students

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2022Suggested citation
Tamarit Sumalla, Josep M. (Josep Maria);
Malpica-Lander, Claudia;
Fernández-Cruz, Victòria;
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(2022)
.
Co-Occurrence of Online and Offline Victimization: A Latent Class Analysis in University Students.
Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, núm. 1, 16.
https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11010016.
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Most people are exposed to risks both in the online and offline world. Several studies have
provided definitions and measures of cybervictimization based on different theoretical approaches
and most of them have focused on specific forms of cybercrime, depicting a limited portrayal of
victimization. The current study explored victimization configurations in a sample of 749 university
undergraduates from Spain (61.6% women; M age = 26.9), utilizing latent class analyses to account
for the nature and frequency of various types of online and offline victimization along their life span.
Among them, 35.9% were victims of a cyberattack, 24.4% reported being victims of cyberfraud and
49% of property crime. The analysis uncovered two classes of cybervictims—consisting of economic
cybervictimization (victims of economic cybercrimes only) and cyber-polyvictimization (victims
of various types of cybercrimes)—and allowed us to compare them with a group of non-victims.
Younger respondents (15 to 25 years old), conventional university students, women, people with
lower incomes and LGBTQI+ individuals have a higher representation in the cyber-polyvictimization
class. In addition, members of this class have suffered more offline victimization in all the areas
analyzed. The present study has found co-occurrence between online and offline victimization, thus
reinforcing the relevance of simultaneously studying both areas and the interaction between them.
From this empirical ground, prevention strategies should not be focused merely on opportunity
factors related to the online interactions and behavior of potential victims, without facing the deep
human and social roots of victimization.
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Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, núm. 1, 16European research projects
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