The Effects of Life Domains on Cyberbullying and Bullying: Testing the Generalizability of Agnew’s Integrated General Theory

Abstract

In 2005, Robert Agnew published his book Why Criminals Offend in which he synthesized an array of theoretical predictors of crime and delinquency into a parsimonious integrated general theory. He argued that delinquency is influenced by mechanisms found in five distinct life domains: self, family, peer, school, and work. Using longitudinal data from South Korea, the current research tested the generalizability of Agnew’s theory by applying it to bullying and cyberbullying. Results from a negative binomial regression model provided mixed support for Agnew’s theory as a general theory of crime. The significant effects of life domains were found to differ across types of bullying.