Cybercrime Perpetration and Victimization among Adolescents: Prevalence, Risk Factors and Preventive Strategies

With the rapid growth of the Internet and social networks, the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) creates ample opportunities for educational, financial, social, and personal activities. The advancement of ICT in digital age is a double-edged sword which brings both convenience and risk to our daily life. Previous studies on cyber behavior have found that adolescents who spend a great deal of time on the internet are prone to having more negative online experiences. This presentation firstly highlights common types of cybercrimes found in Hong Kong. It then discusses some typical cases of cybercrime victimization among adolescents. Using a sample of 1,533 secondary school students, with the routine activities framework in mind, this presentation discusses the relationships between some risk factors (including a lack of cyber safety awareness, normative belief about aggression, and moral disengagement) and cyber deviant behavior/victimization.

In light of the potential consequences of cybercrime and victimization on youth, the presentation also introduces a newly developed RAPID Identification Tool of Cyber Risk for Youth RAPID-IT-CRY¡ which is generated from the same empirical study. Factorial validity of the tool was verified using confirmatory factor analysis. The analyses supported an eight-item scale with a two-factor structure. The eight-item tool RAPID-IT-CRY was found to possess good internal consistency and concurrent validity. It is believed that this tool is particularly useful for frontline practitioners developing intervention programs and the tool also has the potential to advance epistemological methods and clinical research related to cybercrime prevention.