IM Cultural Institute

Tag: Adolescents

  • The Perpetration of On- and Offline Hate Speech among Secondary School Students

    The Perpetration of On- and Offline Hate Speech among Secondary School Students

    This study analyzes the relationship between witnessing and perpetrating hate speech, both online and offline.

    The research was empirically based on data from a purpose-designed questionnaire completed by 571 secondary school students in Almería, Spain, and employs statistical analyses, including binary logistic regression and chi-square tests, to examine these relationships.

    Research results indicate a clear escalation of violence and a transfer between online and in-person hate speech. The influence of close social environments is evident, such as violence within schools. Students who experience hate speech in either environment are significantly more likely to go on to perpetrate hate speech themselves.

    The authors conclude that both online and offline hate speech perpetration are strongly associated with prior exposure to hate speech, particularly having witnessed or suffered in-person hate speech, having encountered hate speech online, and most notably, having been victimized by hate speech online.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2025.1632091

    Reference

    Cáceres, J. M. B., Martínez, P. R., Espinosa, J. J. S., & Joya, L. M. (2025). The perpetration of on- and offline hate speech among secondary school students. Frontiers in Human Dynamics, 7

  • From Hate Speech to HateLess. The Effectiveness of a Prevention Program on Adolescents’ Online Hate Speech Involvement

    From Hate Speech to HateLess. The Effectiveness of a Prevention Program on Adolescents’ Online Hate Speech Involvement

    In this study, the impact of online hate speech on adolescents was examined, and the effectiveness of HateLess – Together Against Hatred, a school-based intervention designed to reduce hate speech engagement and promote counter-speech.

    Using a quasi-experimental design, the research involved 820 adolescents aged 12 to 16 from 11 German schools, divided into an intervention group that participated in a one-week anti-hate speech program and a control group. Multilevel mediation analyses were used to assess the program’s effects.

    It was shown that participation in the program significantly reduced online hate speech perpetration and victimization, while increasing countering behaviors. These effects were partly mediated by increases in empathy, which were associated with lower perpetration and higher counter-speech, and by enhanced self-efficacy, which was linked to reduced victimization and greater countering of hate speech.

    Overall, HateLess appears to be a promising approach for reducing online hate speech and fostering more respectful online interactions among adolescents.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108250

    Reference

    Wachs, S., Wright, M. F., & Gámez-Guadix, M. (2024). From hate speech to HateLess. The effectiveness of a prevention program on adolescents’ online hate speech involvement. Computers in Human Behavior, 157

  • Youths as Targets: Factors of Online Hate Speech Victimization among Adolescents and Young Adults

    Youths as Targets: Factors of Online Hate Speech Victimization among Adolescents and Young Adults

    In this study, the victimization of adolescents and young adults through online hate speech was investigated, a phenomenon that can cause severe psychological harm during critical developmental stages.

    Drawing on criminology’s routine activity theory, the research investigates factors that help explain why young people become targets of online hate speech.It is empirically based on a national, quota-based quantitative online survey representative of adolescent and young adult internet users (N = 1,180).

    Data analysis identifies six latent profiles of young targets, characterized by overall high or low levels of online hate speech victimization, as well as victimization related to gender, migration background, religion, and political engagement on behalf of the queer community.

    Concluding results show that relative subjective deprivation, political participation, and lower levels of digital media literacy are positively associated with overall victimization through online hate speech. At the same time, members of specific social groups and politically engaged youths are more likely to be targeted.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmac012

    Reference

    Obermaier, M., & Schmuck, D. (2022). Youths as targets: Factors of online hate speech victimization among adolescents and young adults. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 27(4)

  • A Systematic Review on Hate Speech among Children and Adolescents: Definitions, Prevalence, and Overlap with Related Phenomena

    A Systematic Review on Hate Speech among Children and Adolescents: Definitions, Prevalence, and Overlap with Related Phenomena

    This systematic review examined the current state of research on the involvement of young people in hate speech, an area the authors affirm that remains relatively underexplored.

    Two main issues make its focus: the prevalence of hate speech among children and adolescents, including the definitions used to assess prevalence, and the theoretical and empirical overlap between hate speech and related concepts.

    Guided by the Cochrane approach, the review includes studies reporting real-life experiences of hate speech and providing empirical prevalence data for samples aged 5 to 21 years. An electronic search across ERIC, SocInfo, PsycInfo, and Psyndex identified 1,850 publications, of which 18 publications based on 10 studies met the inclusion criteria. Most studies relied on quantitative methods and focused on adolescent samples, with no studies examining younger children.

    Results show that exposure to hate speech was more frequent than victimization or perpetration, empirical evidence of overlap between hate speech and bullying was also identified, while definitions and assessment instruments varied considerably across studies.

    The authors conclude by outlining various implications for practice, policy, and future research, and proposing the following definition of hate speech:

    “Hate speech is a derogatory expression (e.g., words, posts, text messages, images, videos) about people (directly or vicariously) on the basis of assigned group characteristics (e.g., ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion). Hate speech is based on an intention to harm and it has the potential to cause harm on multiple different levels (e.g., individual, communal, societal).”

    Learn more about this review here: https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380221108070

    Reference

    Kansok-Dusche, J., Ballaschk, C., Krause, N., Zeißig, A., Seemann-Herz, L., Wachs, S., & Bilz, L. (2022). A Systematic Review on Hate Speech among Children and Adolescents: Definitions, Prevalence, and Overlap with Related Phenomena. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 24(4), 2598-2615