TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wachs, Sebastian
A1  - Castellanos, Melisa
A1  - Wettstein, Alexander
A1  - Bilz, Ludwig
A1  - Gamez-Guadix, Manuel
T1  - Associations between classroom climate, empathy, self-efficacy, and countering hate speech among adolescents
T2  - Journal of interpersonal violence : concerned with the study and treatment of victims and perpetrators of physical and sexual violence
N2  - Although hate speech is widely recognized as an online phenomenon, very few studies have investigated hate speech among adolescents in offline settings (e.g., schools). At the same time, not much is known about countering hate speech (counterspeech) among adolescents and which factors are associated with it. To this end, the present study used the socio-ecological framework to investigate the direct and indirect links among one contextual factor (i.e., classroom climate) and two intrapersonal factors (i.e., empathy for victims of hate speech, self-efficacy regarding intervention in hate speech) to understand counterspeech among adolescents. The sample is based on self-reports of 3,225 students in Grades 7 to 9 (51.7% self-identified as female) from 36 schools in Germany and Switzerland. Self-report questionnaires were administered to measure classroom climate, empathy, self-efficacy, and counterspeech. After controlling for adolescents' grade, gender, immigrant background, and socioeconomic status (SES), the 2-(1-1)-1 multilevel mediation analysis showed that classroom climate (L2), empathy for victims of hate speech (L1), and self-efficacy toward intervention in hate speech (L1) had a positive effect on countering hate speech (L1). Classroom climate (L2) was also positively linked to empathy for victims of hate speech (L1), and self-efficacy toward intervention in hate speech (L1). Furthermore, classroom climate (L2) was indirectly associated with countering hate speech (L1) via greater empathy (L1) and self-efficacy (L1). The findings highlight the need to focus on contextual and intrapersonal factors when trying to facilitate adolescents' willingness to face hate speech with civic courage and proactively engage against it.
KW  - hate speech
KW  - counter speech
KW  - empathy
KW  - self-efficacy
KW  - adolescents
Y1  - 2022
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/60706
SN  - 1552-6518
VL  - 38
IS  - 5-6
SP  - 5067
EP  - 5091
PB  - Sage Publ.
CY  - Thousand Oaks
ER  -