TY - GEN A1 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Wettstein, Alexander A1 - Bilz, Ludwig A1 - Krause, Norman A1 - Ballaschk, Cindy A1 - Kansok-Dusche, Julia A1 - Wright, Michelle F. T1 - Playing by the Rules? An Investigation of the Relationship Between Social Norms and Adolescents’ Hate Speech Perpetration in Schools T2 - Journal of Interpersonal Violence N2 - Hate speech is often discussed and investigated as an online phenomenon, while hate speech among adolescents in the real world (e.g., in schools) has rarely been researched. Consequently, not much is known about potential interpersonal correlates and theoretical frameworks that might help us better understand why adolescents engage in hate speech in offline environments. To add to the literature, this study investigates hate speech perpetration among young people by utilizing the Social Cognitive Theory; more specifically, the association between witnessing and perpetrating hate speech in schools, and whether this relation is weakened or strengthened by anti-hate speech injunctive norms and deviant peer pressure. The sample consists of 1719 young people (45.1% boys, 53.6% girls, 1.3% gender diverse) between 11 and 18 years old (Mage = 13.96; SD = .98) from 22 schools in Switzerland. Self-report questionnaires were administered to measure hate speech involvement and adolescents’ perception of social norms (i.e., anti-hate speech injunctive norms and deviant peer pressure). Multilevel regression analyses revealed that witnessing and perpetrating hate speech were positively associated. Moreover, injunctive anti-hate speech norms were negatively related and deviant peer pressure positively related to hate speech perpetration. Finally, increasing levels of injunctive anti-hate speech norms weakened the relation between witnessing and perpetrating hate speech, whereas higher levels of deviant peer pressure strengthened this association. The findings demonstrate that the Social Cognitive Theory is a useful framework for understanding hate speech perpetration in schools. The results also highlight the importance of taking into account social norms and interpersonal relationships (e.g., within the class) when designing anti-hate speech prevention programs and not focusing solely on intrapersonal factors. KW - hate crimes KW - hate speech KW - social norms KW - school violence KW - discrimination KW - adolescents Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211056032 SN - 0886-2605 VL - 37 IS - 21-22 SP - 21143 EP - 21164 ER - TY - GEN 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: Moderating Effects of Moral Disengagement and Empathy in the Victim-to-Perpetrator Relationship T2 - 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 disengagement KW - adolescents Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2021.0159 SN - 2152-2715 VL - 25 IS - 4 SP - 223 EP - 229 ER - TY - GEN 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: Testing Moderation Effects of Moral Disengagement and Empathy T2 - 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 dis- engagement, 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 VL - 12 IS - 6 SP - 371 EP - 381 ER - TY - GEN 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: Definitions, Prevalence, and Overlap with Related Phenomena T2 - Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 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 (κ = .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 Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380221108070 SN - 1524-8380 SN - 1552-8324 VL - 24(2023) IS - 4 SP - 2598 EP - 2615 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Castellanos, Melisa A1 - Wettstein, Alexander A1 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Kansok-Dusche, Julia A1 - Ballaschk, Cindy A1 - Krause, Norman A1 - Bilz, Ludwig T1 - Hate speech in adolescents. A binational study on prevalence and demographic differences T2 - Frontiers in Education N2 - Hate speech, or intentional derogatory expressions about people based on assigned group characteristics, has been studied primarily in online contexts. Less is known about the occurrence of this phenomenon in schools. As it has negative consequences for victims, perpetrators, and those who witness it, it is crucial to characterize the occurrence of offline (i.e., in the school) and online hate speech to describe similarities and differences between these two socialization contexts. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of hate speech witnessing, victimization, and perpetration, in a sample of 3,620 7th to 9th graders (51% self-identified as female) from 42 schools in Germany and Switzerland. We found that 67% of the students witnessed hate speech in their school, and 65% witnessed online hate speech at least once in the past twelve months. Approximately 21% of the students self-identified as offline perpetrators and 33% as offline victims, whereas these percentages were lower for online hate speech (13% and 20%, respectively). In both settings, skin color and origin were the most common group references for hate speech (50% offline and 63% online). Offline hate speech mainly came from classmates (88%), unknown sources (e.g., graffiti; 19%), or teachers (12%), whereas online hate speech mostly came from unknown persons (77%). The most frequent forms of offline hate speech were offensive jokes (94%) and the spread of lies and rumors about the members of a specific social group (84%). Significant differences by country, gender, and migration background were observed. Girls reported more offline victimization experiences, less perpetration, and a greater frequency of witnessing hate speech. This difference was larger in magnitude in the online setting. Students in Switzerland reported being exposed to hate speech more often than students in Germany. Students with a migration background reported higher hate speech victimization based on skin color and origin than students without a migration background. The high prevalence of hate speech highlights the need for school-based prevention programs. Our findings are discussed in terms of the practical implications. KW - Hate speech KW - adolescents KW - discrimination KW - victimization KW - Europe KW - immigrants KW - gender differences KW - racism KW - cyberhate speech Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1076249 SN - 2504-284X VL - 8 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kansok-Dusche, Julia A1 - Wettstein, Alexander A1 - Castellanos, Melisa A1 - Schwab, Céline A1 - Subramaniam, Abimanju A1 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Bilz, Ludwig T1 - Associations between Social Competence, Perceived Parents’ Prosocial Educational Goals and Adolescents’ Hate Speech Perpetration in School T2 - Victims & Offenders N2 - Hate speech is a global challenge, requiring research on adolescents’ hate speech perpetration in schools. We examined whether perceived parents’ prosocial educational goals moderate the association between social competencies (social perspective-taking, openness to diversity) and hate speech perpetration in schools. In total, 1,719 adolescents (aged 11–18 years) from 22 Swiss schools completed selfreport questionnaires (December 2020 to April 2021). Social perspective-taking and hate speech perpetration correlated negatively, alongside openness to diversity and hate speech perpetration. Perceived parents’ prosocial educational goals strengthened the negative association between openness to diversity and hate speech perpetration in schools but did not moderate the association with social perspective-taking. KW - Hate speech KW - prosocial educational goals KW - social perspective-taking KW - school KW - openness to diversity KW - adolescents Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2023.2189191 SN - 1556-4991 VL - 19 IS - 3 SP - 419 EP - 446 ER -