The Impact of Low Self-Control on Online Harassment: Interaction with Opportunity.

Abstract

Developing Internet technology has increased t he rates of youth online harassment. This study examines online harassment from adolescents with low self-control and the moderating effect of opportunity. The data using this study were collected by the Korea Institute of Criminology in 2009. T he total sample size was 1,091. The results indicated that the low self-control, opportunity, and gender have a significant influence on online harassment. This study also showed a moderating effect of opportunity with low self-control on online harassment. However, there were different results according to gender; for males, low self-control and opportunity significantly impacted online harassment; for females, however, only low self-control significantly impacted online harassment . Furthermore, the interaction between low self-control and opportunity did not significantly influence online harassment either by males or by females. The results of multiple regression strongly supported Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) theory, but other models divided by gender only partially supported interacting effects. Thus, their theory should be applied by genders.