Co-occurrence of online and offline victimization: A latent class analysis in university students

Abstract

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.