The Internet and its overwhelming possibilities and applications have changed the way individuals carry out many routine activities such as going to work or school, or socializing. Social networking sites such as Facebook are ideal settings for interacting with others, and unfortunately, are also ideal settings for committing cybercrimes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the occurrence of online offending against individuals, specifically harassment, stalking, impersonation, and sexting. Self-report surveys collected from a sample of 274 college students were examined using a negative binomial statistical analysis to determine possible relationships between risky online and offline lifestyles as well as social learning factors and the perpetration of cybercrime. The results indicate moderate support for the application of lifestyle-routine activity theory and social learning theory to cybercrime offending. Possible policy implications as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.
","abstract_html":"<p>The Internet and its overwhelming possibilities and applications have changed the way individuals carry out many routine activities such as going to work or school, or socializing. Social networking sites such as Facebook are ideal settings for interacting with others, and unfortunately, are also ideal settings for committing cybercrimes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the occurrence of online offending against individuals, specifically harassment, stalking, impersonation, and sexting. Self-report surveys collected from a sample of 274 college students were examined using a negative binomial statistical analysis to determine possible relationships between risky online and offline lifestyles as well as social learning factors and the perpetration of cybercrime. The results indicate moderate support for the application of lifestyle-routine activity theory and social learning theory to cybercrime offending. Possible policy implications as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Phillips, Elizabeth"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Criminal Justice","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Kyung-shick Choi (chair)
Khadija Monk
Mitch Librett
"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-07-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-07-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:22:00Z","subjects":["Criminology","Criminology and Criminal Justice"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://vc.bridgew.edu/theses/25","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Kyung-shick Choi (chair)
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Mitch Librett
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"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Empirical Assessment of Lifestyle-Routine Activity and Social Learning Theory on Cybercrime Offending"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Kyung-shick Choi (chair)
Khadija Monk
Mitch Librett
"],"dc:creator":["Phillips, Elizabeth"],"dc:date.available":["2015-08-28T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The Internet and its overwhelming possibilities and applications have changed the way individuals carry out many routine activities such as going to work or school, or socializing. Social networking sites such as Facebook are ideal settings for interacting with others, and unfortunately, are also ideal settings for committing cybercrimes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the occurrence of online offending against individuals, specifically harassment, stalking, impersonation, and sexting. Self-report surveys collected from a sample of 274 college students were examined using a negative binomial statistical analysis to determine possible relationships between risky online and offline lifestyles as well as social learning factors and the perpetration of cybercrime. The results indicate moderate support for the application of lifestyle-routine activity theory and social learning theory to cybercrime offending. Possible policy implications as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://vc.bridgew.edu/theses/25"],"dc:subject":["Criminology","Criminology and Criminal Justice"],"dc:title":["Empirical Assessment of Lifestyle-Routine Activity and Social Learning Theory on Cybercrime Offending"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Criminal Justice"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:22:00Z"}