Lifestyle-routine Activities Theory Research Articles

Navigating online perils: Socioeconomic status, online activity lifestyles, and online fraud targeting and victimization of old adults in China

Online fraud poses a growing threat to the well-being of old adults. This study examines the causes and correlates of online fraud targeting and victimization among old adults in China. Drawing insights from the digital inequality theory and lifestyle routine activity theory and utilizing a nationally representative survey of Chinese old adults (N = 4293), this study examines how socioeconomic status and online lifestyle patterns affect their susceptibility to online fraud. The results show that old adults of better socioeconomic status are more likely to be targeted by online frauds, though not necessarily experiencing financial loss. Latent class analysis identifies four online activity lifestyles among old adults: basic, entertainment, risky, and advanced users. Subsequent analysis demonstrates that these lifestyle types predict different risks of online fraud targeting and victimization. Basic users face a heightened risk of being targeted but not necessarily monetary loss. Risky users, while not exhibiting elevated targeting risks compared to basic users, are more susceptible to financial loss once targeted. Advanced users, in contrast to basic users, face elevated risks of being targeted and monetary loss. This study offers new insights into the risk factors for online fraud targeting and victimization among old adults in China, informing the development of effective online fraud prevention programs.

Social Bonding, Risky Lifestyle, and Polyvictimization Among a Sample of Chinese Adolescents.

Polyvictimization has received substantial scholarly attention globally since it has been put forward two decades ago. However, the current lack of understanding of the causes of polyvictimization hinders the design of intervention programs. This study aims to integrate social bonding theory and lifestyle-routine activity theory to understand the etiology of polyvictimization in the Chinese context. Our results suggest that social bonding exerted not only a direct effect on polyvictimization (β = -.030, p < .001) but also an indirect effect through delinquency and association with delinquent peers. Surprisingly, we found that the pathways linking social bonding and polyvictimization do not differ across genders. Implications for practice and theories are discussed.

A Review on the Application of Lifestyle-Routine Activity Theory in Cyber Criminology

A Review on the Application of Lifestyle-Routine Activity Theory in Cyber Criminology

The Impact of social media on Deviance and Crime

The popularity of social media platforms in the digital age has revolutionized how people engage with one another, share information, and interact with their environment. With the framework of social learning theory and routine activity theory, this article aims to summarize and analyze the impact of social media on deviance and crime. As a result, it is now clear how social media has an impact on a variety of societal issues, such as crime and deviance. Using information from a wide range of academic sources, this paper explores the complex connection between social media and crime or deviance. Through the lenses of routine activity theory, social learning theories, and cyber lifestyle-routine activities theory, this study examines the intricate interplay between online behaviors and offline behaviors in an effort to better understand the complex effects of social media on deviance and crime. Meanwhile, people can harness the benefits of social media while reducing its negative effects on crime and deviance by developing rules that address these issues and encouraging a culture of responsible online activity.

Testing the Target Congruence Approach: Do Vulnerability, Gratifiability, and Antagonism Explain Cyberstalking Victimization Among Young Adults?

To extend theoretical understanding of cyberspace victimization beyond lifestyle-routine activity theory, we tested the target congruence approach as a plausible explanation for cyberstalking victimization. Of secondary interest, we assessed whether the relationship between target congruence and cyberstalking victimization differs by pursued–pursuer relationship. Survey data from a sample of 1,500 young adults (18–25 years old) revealed 32% had experienced cyberstalking victimization within the previous year. Logistic regression results moderately support the target congruence approach. Measures capturing target vulnerability (e.g., age, disability), target gratifiability (e.g., gender identity, types of photos posted), and target antagonism (e.g., relationship status, cyberstalking perpetration) significantly predicted cyberstalking victimization. Moreover, it appears that the target congruence elements better explain cyberstalking victimization conducted by someone known to the target (compared with a stranger). Implications for the applicability of the target congruence approach are discussed, along with suggestions for future research.

A pandemic within a pandemic: The investigation of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) victimisation risk factors and stay/leave decisions during the UK COVID-19 lockdown

This study investigated IPV behaviour and decisions associated with whether to stay or leave an IPV relationship during the UK coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. The associations between gender, religion, proximity, financial strain, alcohol use, family cohesion, acceptance of partner behaviour, and emotional labour (surface acting and deep acting) were explored in relation to the presence of IPV and decisions to stay or leave IPV relationships. These variables were selected as they linked with the Lifestyle-Routine Activities Theory and Ecological Theory. A total of 179 participants completed an online questionnaire. The results of the study found that unbalanced family cohesion predicted all forms of IPV, and balanced family cohesion predicted stay decisions for victims. Surface acting predicted verbal abuse and religion predicted physical abuse. Additionally, the acceptance of positive closeness behaviours significantly predicted stay decisions for victims. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Agent bankers and customer victimization in Ado City, Nigeria

Criminal victimization against agent bankers and their customers has recently been on the increase, and the multiplier effect is a major socio-economic problem that could cause a downturn in the economy. This study examines the exposure of agent bankers and their customers to criminal victimization in Ado city, Nigeria. Specifically, the study explores the forms of criminal victimization against agent bankers and their customers, examines the consequences of criminal victimization, looks into the cases of agent bankers and customer victimization, and determines the preventive measures adopted by agent bankers and their customers against victimization. Lifestyle-routine activity theory was deployed as the conceptual framework. An exploratory research design and snowball and purposive sampling with key informant and in-depth interviews were used to interview 12 victimized and non-victimized agent bankers and their customers. Interviews were conducted in Fayose market, King market, Bisi market, and Irona market. Findings reveal that agents’ bankers and their customers were being targeted by criminals who use non-violent tactics. The eagerness of the agent bankers to transact business brings a measure of carelessness to their business dealings. This carelessness and lack of security measures exposes them to motivated offenders. Victimization through fake alert, fraudulent transfer, withdrawal under false pretense, fraudulent alteration, intentional criminal patronage, fake identity, and urgent withdrawal under duress represent the themes found. It is imperative for agent bankers and their customers to set up security measures that could protect them against being victimized.

“Elder Scam” Risk Profiles: Individual and Situational Factors of Younger and Older Age Groups’ Fraud Victimization

In an attempt to understand how differently fraud works depending on a victim’s age, we have examined the effects of situational (lifestyle-routine activities), self-control, and sociodemographic variables on scam victimization across age groups. The analysis was carried out on a national sample of 2,558 Americans, representative by age, sex, and race, and includes additional factors such as their education, living arrangement, employment, and propensity for reporting a crime or asking for help. The results substantiate research findings of the contribution of self-control and LRAT in predicting victimization in general but could not identify major situational and individual differences between older and younger Americans’ scam victimization. However, employment can function as a protective factor for older individuals in some online fraud scenarios. Furthermore, older adults show significantly more reluctance in asking for help or reporting than do younger ones. Future research must address these differences. The author also suggests developing specific variables for measuring how lifestyle-routine activity theory works in scam victimization.

Cyber-harassment victimization of Portuguese adolescents: A lifestyle-routine activities theory approach.

Cyber-harassment refers to a pattern of repeated, intentional, and unwanted annoyances, impositions, threats, or other aggravating actions mediated by Information and Communication Technologies. Globally, substantial proportions of adolescents experience cyber-harassment, resulting in a host of deleterious health-related consequences. This study tested the empirical utility of the Lifestyle-Routine Activities Theory in accounting for adolescent cyber-victimization. A representative sample of 627 adolescents, aged 12-16, enrolled in schools from northern Portugal and Azores, were surveyed. Consistent with the theoretical assumptions, older adolescents, who used tablets, published information on social network profiles, added unknown people as friends, met face-to-face with them, and had parents with less knowledge of their online contacts were at increased risk of being cyber-victimized. Theoretical and practical implications are elaborated.

Television watching as a routine activity: New evidence involving the relationship between television watching and delinquency

While researchers have strived to ascertain the relationship between violent media exposure and aggression, empirical research on the association between television viewing and delinquency is scant. Drawing on lifestyle-routine activities theory, the authors suggest that television watching can be viewed as a routine activity that leads juveniles to spend more time at home while substituting away from situational opportunities conducive to delinquent acts. Using a large longitudinal dataset on South Korean youth, the current study examines the relationship between television watching and engagement in delinquency. The findings from negative binomial regression analysis reveal that the amount of time spent watching TV is negatively associated with delinquency even after controlling for variables derived from various criminological theories. Our findings suggest that although excessive television viewing among youth may not be constructive and thus unadvisable, television watching has some delinquency-reducing effects among young people.

The Importance of Proximity, Target Congruence, and Guardianship of Korean Youth Victims: Applying Latent Class Analysis to Identify Subtypes of Poly-Victimization

Poly-victimization, or exposure to multiple types of victimization, is particularly common among children and adolescents. This study uses Lifestyle-Routine Activity Theory and Target Congruence Theory to examine distinct subgroups of Korean youth who have experienced poly-victimization through the estimation of a latent class analysis. This study uses a nationally representative sample—the 2018 National Survey on the Rights of Children and Youth ( N = 9,060, Grades 4–12). Results found four distinct subgroups of Korean youth who have experienced violent victimization: low risk/non-victims (54.1%), poly-victims (4.1%), verbal bullying victims (10.5%), and victims of parental abuse (31.3%). Distal outcomes such as suicidality and dropout were also examined regarding victimization experiences. Policy implications such as detecting victimization and early intervention/prevention programs are also discussed.

Reaffirming the relationship between routine activities and violent victimization in prison

Prior research found routine activities in prison affect risk of victimization among incarcerated people. However, most of this work is cross-sectional in nature and does not establish temporal order between the expected risk factors and victimization. To address this gap, the current study examines a snapshot population of individuals incarcerated in Minnesota state prisons on January 1, 2021, following them forward to examine violent victimization during a 6-month follow-up period. Results of Cox regression models and negative binomial models showed several in-prison activities (e.g., treatment, work, visitation, misconduct) and individual characteristics (e.g., race, age, mental and physical health) were related to risk of victimization and/or the number of violent incidents experienced. In addition, race-specific models showed the specific predictors of victimization vary across racial groups. The results confirm the utility of lifestyle-routine activities theory as a framework for understanding victimization in prisons.

Mapping out Violence Against Women of Influence on Twitter Using the Cyber-Lifestyle Routine Activity Theory.

The study applies and expands the routine activity theory to examine the dynamics of online harassment and violence against women on Twitter in India. We collected 931,363 public tweets (original posts and replies) over a period of 1 month that mentioned at least one of 101 influential women in India. By undertaking both manual and automated text analysis of “hateful” tweets, we identified three broad types of violence experienced by women of influence on Twitter: dismissive insults, ethnoreligious slurs, and gendered sexual harassment. The analysis also revealed different types of individually motivated offenders: “news junkies,” “Bollywood fanatics,” and “lone-wolves”, who do not characteristically engage in direct targeted attacks against a single person. Finally, we question the effectiveness of Twitter’s form of “guardianship” against online violence against women, as we found that a year after our initial data collection in 2017, only 22% of hostile posts with explicit forms of harassment have been deleted. We conclude that in the social media age, online and offline public spheres overlap and intertwine, requiring improved regulatory approaches, policies, and moderation tools of “capable” guardianship that empower women to actively participate in public life.

Memahami Kekerasan Seksual dalam Menara Gading di Indonesia

Many studies on campus sexual assault in the past use lifestyle-routine activities theory to explain the crime. According to those studies, certain lifestyle factors can increase the likelihood of victimization while still in college. Our research shows that the two theories fail to explain that several institutional policies or regulations set by universities can limit and shape an individual's lifestyle, thus increasing the risk of victimization. These policies or regulations include class schedules, thesis consultancies, and campus-community service programs. Against this background, the authors argue that the root cause of campus sexual assault lies in the patriarchal culture in the Indonesia context hence women have a higher risk of victimization than men.

Individual and community-level predictors of hate-crime victimization among Finnish adolescents

ABSTRACT Previous studies have explained hate-crime victimization using lifestyle-routine activities theory and social disorganization theory. This approach has yielded mixed findings regarding community characteristics due to the limitations of the measures used. Our study examined the effects of multiple individual-level factors and a neighborhood’s economic status, residential instability, and ethnic heterogeneity on hate-crime victimization. We used survey data on Finnish adolescents aged 15–16 and geographically referenced register data on the neighborhoods. Some public lifestyle factors, such as delinquent behavior, were associated with hate-crime victimization. Community-level characteristics did not predict hate crime directly, but individuals with an immigrant background faced a lower risk of hate-crime victimization in more diverse neighborhoods.

Victimization in Cyberspace: Is It How Long We Spend Online, What We Do Online, or What We Post Online?

Prior research on cybercrime victimization has generally emphasized the linkage between the frequency or actual length of time individuals spend online engaging in certain activities and the risk of being victimized in cyberspace but has paid much less attention to what persons actually share or post online that increases the risk of online victimization. To address this gap, we appeal to the integrated lifestyle–routine activities theory in order to examine the relationships between the length of time one spends online (online frequency), specific activities or tasks one engages in while online (online activity), specific types of information one shares online (online posting), and seven specific forms of cybercrime victimization using a convenience sample of students. Results showed that one online frequency variable (internet hours), six online activity variables (banking, reading news, shopping, planning travel, socializing, and communicating with stranger), and three online posting variables (phone number, home address, and other info) were significantly related to five of the seven forms of cybercrime victimization (computer virus, harassment by nonstranger unwanted porn, sex solicitation, and phishing). Implications for our findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Exploring the human factor in cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crime victimisation: a lifestyle routine activities approach

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore human factors as the possible facilitator of cyber-dependent (hacking and malware infection) and cyber-enabled (phishing) crimes victimisation and to test the applicability of lifestyle routine activities theory (LRAT) to cybercrime victimisation.Design/methodology/approachA mixed methods research paradigm was applied to address the research questions and aims. The data set of Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) 2014/2015 and 42 semi-structured interviews conducted with victims of cybercrime and non-victim control group participants were analysed via binary logistic regression and content analyses methods.FindingsThis research illustrated that Internet users facilitated their victimisation through their online activities. Additionally, using insecure Internet connections and public access computers emerged as risk factors for both cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crime victimisation. Voluntary and involuntary personal information disclosure through social networking sites and online advertisement websites increased the likelihood of being a target of phishing. Deviant online activities such as free streaming or peer-to-peer sharing emerged to increase the risk of cyber-dependent crime victimisation.Research limitations/implicationsThe binary logistic regression analysis results suggested LRAT as a more suitable theoretical framework for cyber-dependent crime victimisation. Future research may test this result with models including more macro variables.Practical implicationsPolicymakers may consider implementing regulations regarding limiting the type of information required to login to free Wi-Fi connections. Checking trust signs and green padlocks may be effective safeguarding measures to lessen the adverse impacts of impulsive buying.Originality/valueThis study empirically illustrated that, besides individual-level factors, macro-level factors such as electronic devices being utilised to access the Internet and data breaches of large companies also increased the likelihood of becoming the victim of cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crime.

Assessing the Relationship between Lifestyle Routine Activities Theory and Online Victimization Using Panel Data

ABSTRACT Prior research suggests lifestyle routine activities theory (LRAT) applies to online environments, however, the use of cross-sectional designs may limit the ability to determine whether LRAT behaviors influence online victimization, or if it is victimization that influences the use of LRAT behaviors. The current study used nationally representative panel data from The Netherlands to analyze the relationship between guardianship, exposure, and target attractiveness on hacking and malware victimization, controlling for relevant factors. Using path modeling, two prominent findings emerged. First, of the three LRAT factors, only exposure predicted greater likelihood of cybercrime victimization at a later time. Second, previous cybercrime victimization predicted increases in guardianship and exposure behaviors at a later time. Overall, these findings suggest that cybercrime victimization plays a greater role in changing LRAT behaviors, than LRAT behaviors do in explaining victimization.

A Lifestyle-Routine Activity Theory (LRAT) Approach to Cybercrime Victimization : An Empirical Assessment of SNS Lifestyle Exposure Activities

The Internet and all of its possibilities and applications have changed individuals’ lifestyles in relation to socializing, working, and how they spend their leisure time. Social networking sites (SNSs), such as Facebook or Instagram, are ideal settings for interacting with others but, unfortunately, they are also ideal settings for motivated offenders to commit cybercrimes. Thus SNS users may be more vulnerable to cybercrime. The purpose of this study is to investigate the occurrence of cybercrime victimization, specifically cyber-harassment, cyber-impersonation, and hacking. Self-report surveys collected from a sample of 147 respondents were examined using the moderated multiple regression analysis and a logistic regression analysis to determine possible relationships between SNS lifestyle exposure activities and cybercrime victimization. The results indicate moderate support for the application of lifestyle-routine activity theory (LRAT) to cybercrime victimization. Possible educational and managerial implications, as well as suggestions for future research, are discussed.

Risk and protective factors of identity theft victimization in the United States.

Identity theft victimization is associated with serious physical and mental health morbidities. The problem is expanding as society becomes increasingly reliant on technology to store and transfer personally identifying information. Guided by lifestyle-routine activity theory, this study sought to identify risk and protective factors associated with identity theft victimization and determine whether individual-level behaviors, including frequency of online purchasing and data protection practices, are determinative of victimization. Data from sequential administrations of the U.S. National Crime Victimization Survey-Identity Theft Supplement (ITS) in 2012 and 2014 were combined (N=128,419). Using multivariable logistic regression, risk and protective factors were examined for three subtypes: 1) unauthorized use of existing credit card/bank accounts, and unauthorized use of personal information to 2) open new accounts, or 3) engage in instrumental activities (e.g., applying for government benefits, receiving medical care, filing false tax returns). Existing credit card/bank accounts and new accounts identity theft victimization were associated with higher levels of online purchasing activity and prior identity theft victimization. All identity theft subtypes were associated with government/corporate data breaches and other crime victimization experiences. Routine individual-level preventive behaviors such as changing online passwords and shredding/destroying documents were protective. Identity theft subtypes showed divergent socio-demographic risk/protective profiles, with those of higher socioeconomic status more likely to be victims of existing credit card/bank account identity theft. Identity theft is a pervasive, growing problem with serious health and psychosocial consequences, yet individuals can engage in specific protective behaviors to mitigate victimization risk.