Understanding the Effects of Lifestyles and Routine Activities on Adolescents’ Physical and Non-physical Peer Victimization: A Zero-inflated Analysis of the 2007 NCVS-SCS

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe current study aims to expand previous empirical tests of lifestyle and routine activity theories (LRAT) by introducing a zero-inflated approach to the study of adolescents’ physical and nonphysical peer victimization. While many studies have examined youth victimizations, little academic attention has been given to an excessive number of non-victimization. With the application of the recent methodological findings, this study addresses an immunity effect and investigates diverse aspects of youth peer victimization. Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey School Crime Supplement (NCVS-SCS) are analyzed using both negative binomial (NB) and zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression models. The results from the NB and the ZINB models suggest that the application of the ZINB model is required for clarification of victimization determinants. This study also finds that the effects of illegal substance and gun availability at school observed from the ZINB model corroborate findings in previous studies. Nevertheless, there are a number of differentiated results from the zero-inflated model which provide directions for future victimization research assessing datasets with excessive zeros.