TY - JOUR A1 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Bilz, Ludwig A1 - Wettstein, Alexander A1 - Wright, Michelle F. A1 - Krause, Norman A1 - Ballaschk, Cindy A1 - Kansok-Dusche, Julia T1 - The online hate speech cycle of violence BT - moderating effects of moral disengagement and empathy in the victim-to-perpetrator relationship JF - Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking N2 - Adolescents around the globe are increasingly exposed to online hate speech (OHS). And yet little is known about the varying roles of involvement and the determinants of adolescents' hate speech perpetration. Building on previous research, this study aims to test the cycle of violence hypothesis for OHS and to analyze whether moral disengagement (MD) and empathy moderate the victim-to-perpetrator relationship. The sample consists of 3,560 seventh to ninth graders (52.1 percent girls), recruited from 40 schools across Germany and Switzerland. Self-report questionnaires were administered to assess OHS involvement, MD, and empathy. Multilevel analyses revealed that victims of OHS were more likely to report OHS perpetration. In addition, victims of OHS were more likely to report OHS perpetration when they reported higher levels of MD than those with lower levels of MD. Finally, victims of OHS were less likely to report OHS perpetration when they reported higher levels of empathy than those with lower levels of empathy. The findings extend the cycle of violence hypothesis to OHS and highlight the need to address MD and empathy in hate speech prevention. Implications for future research will be discussed. KW - hate speech KW - cyberhate KW - online discrimination KW - empathy KW - moral KW - disengagement KW - adolescents Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2021.0159 SN - 2152-2715 SN - 2152-2723 VL - 25 IS - 4 SP - 223 EP - 229 PB - Liebert CY - New Rochelle ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Bilz, Ludwig A1 - Wettstein, Alexander A1 - Wright, Michelle F. A1 - Kansok-Dusche, Julia A1 - Krause, Norman A1 - Ballaschk, Cindy T1 - Associations between witnessing and perpetrating online hate speech among adolescents BT - testing moderation effects of moral disengagement and empathy JF - Psychology of violence N2 - Objective: The open expression of hatred, hostility, and violence against minorities has become a common online phenomenon. Adolescents are at particular risk of being involved in different hate speech roles (e.g., witness, perpetrator). However, the correlates of their involvement as perpetrators and the mechanisms that might explain their involvement in hate speech across different roles have not yet been thoroughly investigated. To this end, this study investigates moral disengagement and empathy as correlates of online hate speech perpetration and the moderation effects of empathy and moral disengagement in the relationship between witnessing and perpetrating online hate speech. Method: The sample consists of 3,560 7th to 9th graders from 40 schools in Germany and Switzerland. Self-report questionnaires were utilized to assess online hate speech involvement, moral disengagement, and empathy. Results: Multilevel regression analyses revealed that moral disengagement and witnessing online hate speech were positively associated with online hate speech perpetration, while empathy was negatively associated with it. The findings also showed that the positive relationship between witnessing and perpetrating online hate speech was stronger at higher levels of moral disengagement and weaker when moral disengagement was low. The association between witnessing and perpetrating online hate speech was weaker when adolescents had higher rather than lower levels of empathy. Conclusions: The findings underscore the need for prevention efforts to accelerate moral engagement and empathy as critical future directions in hate speech prevention. This study also contributes to our understanding of underlying mechanisms that explain adolescents' involvement across different roles in hate speech. KW - hate speech KW - cyberhate KW - empathy KW - moral disengagement KW - adolescents Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000422 SN - 2152-0828 SN - 2152-081X VL - 12 IS - 6 SP - 371 EP - 381 PB - American Psychological Association CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kansok-Dusche, Julia A1 - Ballaschk, Cindy A1 - Krause, Norman A1 - Zeissig, Anke A1 - Seemann-Herz, Lisanne A1 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Bilz, Ludwig T1 - A systematic review on hate speech among children and adolescents BT - definitions, prevalence, and overlap with related phenomena JF - Trauma, violence & abuse : a review journal N2 - Little is known about the current state of research on the involvement of young people in hate speech. Thus, this systematic review presents findings on a) the prevalence of hate speech among children and adolescents and on hate speech definitions that guide prevalence assessments for this population; and b) the theoretical and empirical overlap of hate speech with related concepts. This review was guided by the Cochrane approach. To be included, publications were required to deal with real-life experiences of hate speech, to provide empirical data on prevalence for samples aged 5 to 21 years and they had to be published in academic formats. Included publications were full-text coded using two raters (kappa = .80) and their quality was assessed. The string-guided electronic search (ERIC, SocInfo, Psycinfo, Psyndex) yielded 1,850 publications. Eighteen publications based on 10 studies met the inclusion criteria and their findings were systematized. Twelve publications were of medium quality due to minor deficiencies in their theoretical or methodological foundations. All studies used samples of adolescents and none of younger children. Nine out of 10 studies applied quantitative methodologies. Eighteen publications based on 10 studies were included. Results showed that frequencies for hate speech exposure were higher than those related to victimization and perpetration. Definitions of hate speech and assessment instruments were heterogeneous. Empirical evidence for an often theorized overlap between hate speech and bullying was found. The paper concludes by presenting a definition of hate speech, including implications for practice, policy, and research. KW - hate speech KW - bullying KW - adolescents KW - children KW - youth KW - systematic review Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380221108070 SN - 1524-8380 SN - 1552-8324 VL - 24 IS - 4 SP - 2598 EP - 2615 PB - Sage Publ. CY - Thousand Oaks ER -