title: Cyber Dating Abuse Victimization Among Secondary School Students From a Lifestyle-Routine Activities Theory Perspective.
abstract: Controlling one's romantic partner through digital media is a form of cyber dating abuse. To design effective educational campaigns, a deeper understanding of how some young people become victim of this type of abuse within their romantic relationships is warranted. This study is the first to adopt a lifestyle-routine activities theory perspective toward online romantic partner monitoring, by looking at whether secondary school students' risky digital lifestyle and their digital media use are linked to a higher chance of being controlled by a romantic partner, taking into account gender, age, and the length of the romantic relationship. The data of 466 secondary school students (71.0% girls, n = 331) between 16 and 22 years old ( M = 17.99 years; SD = 0.92) who were in a romantic relationship are analyzed. Linear regression analysis suggests that engagement in online risk behavior, the length of the romantic relationship, engagement in sexting with the romantic partner, and the amount of social networking site use were significantly linked to victimization of digital controlling behavior. The results are important to practitioners, as they indicate that messages about safe Internet use should be incorporated in prevention and educational campaigns with regard to cyber dating abuse. Suggestions for future research are discussed.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: Joris
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Ouytsel
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium.|2 Higher Institute for Family Sciences, Brussels, Belgium.|3 Antwerp Maritime Academy, Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ponnet
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walrave
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D058445:Bullying / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D000066511:Intimate Partner Violence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D017406:Sexual Harassment / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D060756:Social Networking; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: controlling behavior; cyber dating abuse; dating violence; lifestyle-routine activities theory