Youth Cybercrime Influenced by Peers

June 24, 2011 by Andrew Atwal

Having friends who engage in cybercrimes is one of the greatest determinants in whether juveniles commit cybercrimes, according to a new study by researchers at Michigan State University, Georgia Southern University and Eastern Kentucky University.

The study, Low Self-Control, Deviant Peer Associations, and Juvenile Cybercrime, published online in the American Journal of Criminal Justice, is one of the first to analyze the motives behind cybercrimes committed by juveniles in middle and high schools.

Authors of the study administered a scientific survey to 435 students in a Kentucky school district. Study results showed that the biggest predictor that juveniles might engage in cybercrime is peer influence – meaning kids with friends who had committed cybercrimes were more likely also to engage in such activities. Results also showed that low self-control was a major factor in juveniles committing cybercrimes.

Examples of cybercrimes include digital piracy (including stealing music), online bullying and harassment (including threatening or sexually explicit messages delivered through text messages or e-mails), viewing online pornography (if under age 18), and cyber-trespassing (which most times involves computer hacking).

Other reasons that juveniles commit cybercrimes, according to the research, include spending more time online for non-academic reasons, being highly skilled with computers and having a computer in a personal setting.

Age also positively correlated with cybercrime, while having higher grades was one of the least correlated factors relating to committing cybercrimes.

Females were also very unlikely to commit cybercrimes.

Research also showed that low self-control seems to have both a direct and indirect effect, through other peers offending, on youth cybercrime.

 

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