differ from previous studies (e.g. Higgins, 2004; Higgins & Wilson, 2006) which are more focused on friends who engage in online offending. We do note, however, that our measures of differential association may capture young people who are surrounded by more general delinquent attitudes and experiences from peers. Deviancy neutralization Three survey items are used to measure the extent that young people engage in deviance neutralization techniques, measured on five-point likert scales from strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1). It is OK to steal something if you are very poor? It is OK to steal from somebody rich who can afford to replace it? It is OK to steal something from a shop that makes a lot of money? Although not as comprehensive as previous measures of neutralization (e.g. Morris and Higgins, 2008) which incorporate the full spectrum of Sykes and Matza’s (1957) original model, these measures still capture several behavioral markers of online offending. The three items were combined into a single latent scale using factor analysis, with higher scores representing an increased tendency to adopt deviancy neutralization strategies. All three items had factor loadings above .7 and the scale has good reliability (alpha .84). Full factor loadings included in appendix, table A.1. Parental normative disapproval and family support Parental normative disapproval and family support have rarely been applied to studies of online piracy (for exceptions see Gunter, 2009; Yang & Wang, 2015), yet are
differ from previous studies (e.g. Higgins, 2004; Higgins & Wilson, 2006) which are more focused on friends who engage in online offending. We do note, however, that our measures of differential association may capture young people who are surrounded by more general delinquent attitudes and experiences from peers. Deviancy neutralization Three survey items are used to measure the extent that young people engage in deviance neutralization techniques, measured on five-point likert scales from strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1). It is OK to steal something if you are very poor? It is OK to steal from somebody rich who can afford to replace it? It is OK to steal something from a shop that makes a lot of money? Although not as comprehensive as previous measures of neutralization (e.g. Morris and Higgins, 2008) which incorporate the full spectrum of Sykes and Matza’s (1957) original model, these measures still capture several behavioral markers of online offending. The three items were combined into a single latent scale using factor analysis, with higher scores representing an increased tendency to adopt deviancy neutralization strategies. All three items had factor loadings above .7 and the scale has good reliability (alpha .84). Full factor loadings included in appendix, table A.1. Parental normative disapproval and family support Parental normative disapproval and family support have rarely been applied to studies of online piracy (for exceptions see Gunter, 2009; Yang & Wang, 2015), yet are
vo_online_offending_ibs.docx