A longitudinal study of victimization among South Korean youth: The integrative approach between lifestyle and control theory

•Parental attachment demonstrated weak evidence of direct effect on the developmental trajectory of juvenile victimization.•There is evidence of indirect effects of changes in parental attachment on juvenile victimization through offending over time.•Parental attachment is important factors to explaining the downturn trajectory of juvenile victimization.

Even though, studies on juvenile victimization have been ongoing for decades, longitudinal studies on the explanation of juvenile victimization have been under-researched.This study employed Latent Growth Modeling in order to identify a trajectory of juvenile victimization and to examine the association between parental attachment, juvenile offending, and juvenile victimization using longitudinal data from the Korea Youth Panel Study. Parental attachment demonstrated weak evidence of direct effect on the developmental trajectory of juvenile victimization during adolescence. However, there is meaningful evidence of indirect effects of changes in parental attachment on juvenile victimization through juvenile offending over time. Theoretical relevance and limitations are discussed.