Search

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate a cybersecurity and digital forensics enrichment program for gifted and talented students to determine students' perceptions of this enrichment course. We evaluated data from 25 secondary education students and one educator to examine their perceptions of the program. Responses from students and the teacher indicated that the cyber enrichment program was well-received by students. Findings demonstrated that authentic and hands-on experiences with cybersecurity and digital forensics were associated with students' perceiving the program as appealing and meaningful and perceiving themselves as highly efficacious when it comes to cybersecurity and digital forensics. Future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet trolling is a form of online aggression that can have negative psychological effects on its victims. This study examines whether Internet trolling behaviors is related to general strain theory. Respondents were solicited from Mechanical Turk and completed an anonymous, Internet-based survey measuring a variety of trolling behaviors and strains (i.e., cyberbullying victimization, trolling victimization, financial strain, and social strain). Of the 259 respondents, 55% self-reported engaging in Internet trolling behaviors. Partial correlations, controlling for sex and age, suggested trolling was significantly related to cyberbullying victimization, trolling victimization, financial strain, and social strain. The hierarchical (blockwise entry) logistic regression found trolls scored higher on cyberbullying victimization, trolling victimization, and financial strain compared to non-trolls. In addition, there was a marginally significant relationship between trolling and higher scores on social strain. Men were also more likely to engage in trolling behaviors compared to women. We conclude there is a relationship between online trolling behaviors and general strain theory. Future research should consider other sources of strain and comparisons between the different types of trolling behaviors (e.g., flaming, griefing, and memorial page trolling) when examining the relationship between trolling and strains. Additional future research suggestions and study limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study used an explanatory mixed-method design to examine the effects of the Achievement Motivation Enhancement (AME)+Cyber enrichment program and teachers' perception of procedures and outcomes in the context of emergency remote teaching, including online and hybrid formats, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three teachers implemented the program with 57 students in grades 9 through 12. To evaluate the program, we combined change score analysis of pretest and posttest data on academic self-perception, self-regulation, goal valuation, cyber-related interest, as well as descriptive interpretative analysis of interview data. We found the online learning format was more effective than the hybrid format for the affective and cognitive outcomes. Qualitative findings suggested pedagogical concerns and struggle with online learning due to emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, centered around a lack of student engagement and interaction that appropriate levels of training and practice could remedy. Implications and future research suggestions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined the validity of the Child Pornography Offender Risk Tool (CPORT) in a sample of 304 men arrested in Spain for child pornography (CP) offenses, distinguishing between CP-exclusive offenders (n = 255) and CP offenders with other criminal involvement (n = 49). In our 5-year fixed follow-up analysis, we observed a 2.3% sexual recidivism rate for the whole sample (2.0% new CP offenses, 0.3% new contact sexual offenses). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses detected some relative predictive ability of the CPORT for CP recidivism outcomes when the Correlates of Admission of Sexual Interest in Children (CASIC) was used to replace missing CPORT Item 5. Specifically, both CPORT and CASIC total scores might help predict new CP offending among CP-exclusive offenders (area under the curve [AUC] = .57 and .70, respectively). Calibration analyses found that the observed recidivism rates were much lower than the expected recidivism rates presented by the tool developers, and, thus, suggest caution over the use of these norms for applied risk assessment. Our findings provide, to some extent, preliminary evidence of CPORT cross-cultural validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]