REPEAT VICTIMIZATION AMONG ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG-ADULTS

Prior research has shown that victimization incidents are disproportio nately concentrated among relatively few victims and that prior victim ization is a consistent predictor of future risk. This paper expands e xisting knowledge on victimization by describing temporal patterns of risk and by developing and testing alternative explanatory models of t he link between past and future risk. Analyses based on panel data fro m the National Youth Survey support both state dependence and heteroge neity interpretations of the correlation in risk over time. In other w ords, prior victimization predicts future risk in part because it alte rs something about the individual, and because it indicates an unmeasu red propensity for victimization that persists over time. The theoreti cal implications of these findings, including the feasibility of a vic tim labeling perspective, are discussed.