Deviant Behavior

Jin, Puyan

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2026.2685186pmid: N/A

This study examined the relationship between perceived influence of short-form video recommendation algorithms (PISVRA) and short-form video addictive behaviors (SFVAB) among 1,014 Chinese college students. Using PROCESS Model 6, results showed that PISVRA was positively associated with SFVAB both directly and indirectly through fear of missing out (FoMO) and instant gratification (IG). FoMO emerged as the strongest mediator, with a significant serial mediation pathway (PISVRA → FoMO → IG → SFVAB). These findings highlight key psychological mechanisms underlying algorithm-driven addictive behaviors and inform efforts to promote healthier engagement with short-form video platforms.

Mataji-Amirroud, Maryam; Ramezankhani, Ali; Mataji-Amirroud, Saide

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2026.2686865pmid: N/A

This qualitative investigation examines the multifaceted dimensions of women’s empowerment as a pivotal protective determinant against intimate partner violence (IPV) within the unique sociocultural landscape of Iran. Employing an inductive, conventional content analysis methodology rooted in 31 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Iranian women, this study transcends conventional theoretical frameworks to reveal culturally embedded constructs of empowerment. Analytical rigor was achieved through the Granheim and Lundman five-step process, facilitated by MAXQDA software, which identified four primary empowerment domains: Skill/Communication Empowerment, Psychological Empowerment, Economic Empowerment, and Spiritual Empowerment. These domains encompass a broad spectrum of capabilities, including negotiation and decision-making skills, emotional self-regulation, assertiveness, social support networks, economic autonomy, perceived legal rights, resilience, and spiritual hope. This study emphasizes the multidimensional and culturally nuanced nature of empowerment that facilitates women’s agency to prevent, manage, and recover from IPV. The findings offer vital, evidence-based insights for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers dedicated to designing targeted, culturally informed interventions and empowerment programs to combat IPV and promote gender equity in Iran and comparable contexts. By integrating qualitative methodological rigor with cultural sensitivity, this research substantially contributes to the global discourse on IPV prevention and women’s empowerment as a fundamental human rights and public health priority.

Partin, Raymond; Beaton, Blake

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2026.2685873pmid: N/A

Online forums are key venues for illicit drug discourse, yet discussions vary across platforms. This study compares drug discourse on Reddit and the Dark Web forum Dread, examining how users frame heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and MDMA. Analyzing 80 discussion threads and 359 comments posted between 2020 and 2025, findings show Reddit users frame drug use through moral evaluation and cautionary narratives emphasizing addiction and risk, while Dread users normalize drug use, focusing on vendor reputation and product quality. Both communities converged only around MDMA. Results suggest platform anonymity, audience composition, and communicative norms significantly shape online drug discourse.

Natalis, Aga

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2026.2685198pmid: N/A

Stealthing, the non-consensual removal of a condom during sexual intercourse without the victim’s knowledge, is a serious violation of sexual autonomy, leading to significant physical, psychological, and reproductive harm. In Indonesia, while Law No. 12 of 2022 on Sexual Violence Crimes and the new Criminal Code have expanded recognition of sexual violence beyond physical coercion, they fail to explicitly address conditional consent violations such as stealthing. This doctrinal gap leaves victims in a legal gray area, reflecting patriarchal norms that prioritize male sexual prerogatives and obscure nonphysical harms. Stealthing exposes victims to multidimensional consequences, including sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancies, and psychological trauma, yet remains under-recognized in legal practice. Comparative evidence from jurisdictions including Canada, Australia, and Switzerland demonstrates that consent is dynamic, contingent, and retractable, providing a persuasive model for recognizing stealthing as criminal conduct. Using a hermeneutic framework and Friedman’s legal system analysis, this study highlights gaps in Indonesia’s legal substance, structure, and culture, recommending explicit criminalization of conditional consent violations, enhanced law enforcement capacity, and cultural interventions to promote consent awareness.

Lee, Joo-young

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2026.2685872pmid: N/A

Digital transformation has increased personal data leakage risks through employees’ routine mistakes and omissions as well as external attacks. This study conceptualizes negligent personal data management as negligence-based deviant behavior and examines its determinants using Convenience Theory. Survey data from 299 South Korean office workers show that willingness and opportunity increase negligent personal data management, whereas motive is not significant. Perceived in-house security implementation has no direct effect but buffers the effect of willingness only at very high implementation levels. The findings suggest that reducing negligence requires mature security controls combined with efforts to reshape workplace norms and self-regulation.

Fraikue, Frances Betty; Mensah, Ronald Osei; Dodor, Ann; Yin, Elijah Tukwariba

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2026.2684004pmid: N/A

Sexual harassment remains a pervasive yet underexplored form of workplace deviance within Ghana’s hospitality industry. Guided by feminist theory and symbolic interactionism, this interpretive phenomenological study explored the experiences of twelve hospitality workers and students on industrial attachment. Findings revealed that harassment is sustained by customer entitlement, gendered service expectations, managerial power imbalances, labour precarity, and weak institutional accountability. Participants reported psychological distress, fear of retaliation, reduced job satisfaction, and disrupted career trajectories. The study concludes that sexual harassment is a structurally embedded socio-legal problem requiring stronger workplace protections, accountability mechanisms, and organisational reforms.

Cobzeanu, Alexandra; Opariuc-Dan, Cristian; Merlici, Ioan-Alex; Constantinoiu, Ioana; Cobzeanu, Bogdan Mihail; Tanase, Ionut

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2026.2686337pmid: N/A

This study explores the relationship between childhood trauma, experiential avoidance (i.e. suppressing thoughts and emotions related to significant adverse events), and sexual promiscuity through the lens of sociosexuality, i.e. the degree to which an individual is inclined toward sex without emotional closeness or exclusivity. We also examined the mediating role of impulsivity in these relations using a convenience sample of 676 Romanian heterosexual adults (M age = 24.09, SD age = 4.49). Sexual promiscuity was operationalized through sociosexuality and assessed across three dimensions: sociosexual behavior (number and frequency of casual sexual partners), sociosexual attitude (openness toward uncommitted sex), and sociosexual desire (frequency of spontaneous sexual fantasies). Results suggest that childhood trauma was associated with sociosexual desire (but not behavior or attitudes), while experiential avoidance was directly associated with sociosexual desire and attitudes. Impulsivity fully mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and sociosexual behavior and attitude, and partially mediated its effect on sociosexual desire. Impulsivity also mediated the link between experiential avoidance and all three facets of sexual promiscuity; however, unexpectedly, experiential avoidance was negatively associated with impulsivity. These findings suggest that impulsivity may be a key determinant in translating trauma and experiential avoidance into sexual promiscuity.

Dicks, Sophie; Synnott, John; Ioannou, Maria; Tzani, Calli; Lester, David; Williams, Thomas James Vaughan; Althuwaikh, Abdullah Fawzi

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2026.2689167pmid: N/A

Due to the relatively recent formation of the involuntary celibate (incel) community, there is limited research on the topic of incel-motivated offenses and offenders. The current study was designed to create a model to classify incel offenders, using media and secondary sources. The results of the study created a core region of variables that are central to incel incidents, as well as two themes: Violent Criminal and Disturbed Loner. The findings also offer a basis for potential prevention and intervention strategies. Future research is suggested.

Choi, Seoung Won; Lee, Julak; Button, Mark

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2026.2685195pmid: N/A

Human trafficking intersects with cyber scams, yet Korean cases remain underexplored. This study provides an in-depth analysis of Korean-targeted recruitment and exploitation pathways for cyber scam operations in Cambodia. Thematic analysis identified four themes: Korean-targeted recruitment, multi-layered coercive control, exploitation of Korean nationals’ characteristics to target fellow Koreans, and exploitation of Korea’s financial system and scam industrialization. Korea’s socioeconomic conditions create structural vulnerability, while victims’ linguistic, cultural, and digital skills are exploited for cyber scams. Unlike traditional trafficking, this pathway uniquely involves induced voluntariness, skill-based exploitation, addiction-facilitated coercion, and victim-to-perpetrator transition, highlighting the need for country-specific prevention and response strategies.