Correlates of diverse pathways in violent victimization in early adolescence

•Prior involvement in delinquency increased both initial and repeat victimization.•Attachment to teacher and deviant peer association affected repeat victimization.•Attachment to parents decreased initial victimization.

Despite a significant increase in research on victimization, limited studies explored similarities/differences in correlates across different pathways of violent victimization, such as onset, repeat and discontinuation of victimization. The current study examines factors distinguishing these pathways from non-victimization using a South Korean adolescent sample. The findings show significant differences in most variables between onset/repeat victimization and non-victimization. There appear similarities and differences in factors discriminating onset/repeat victimization from non-victimization. In contrast, prior interpersonal misbehavior is the only factor which differentiates discontinuation of victimization from non-victimization. Implications of the findings are discussed.