TY - GEN A1 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Bilz, Ludwig A1 - Fischer, Saskia M. A1 - Wright, Michelle F. T1 - Do Emotional Components of Alexithymia Mediate the Interplay between Cyberbullying Victimization and Perpetration? T2 - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health N2 - A substantial amount of research has revealed that cyberbully-victims have more emotional and behavioral problems than either cyberbullying victims or perpetrators. However, until now, little research has been conducted into the factors that contribute to the interplay between cyberbullying victimization and perpetration. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between cyberbullying victimization, perpetration, and two emotional components of alexithymia, namely difficulties in identifying and describing one’s own feelings. Self-report questions were administered to 1549 adolescents between 12 and 18 years old (M = 14.51; SD = 1.68; 42.1% (n = 652) male) from Germany and Thailand. Results showed that cyberbullying victimization and alexithymia are associated with cyberbullying perpetration. Moreover, alexithymia mediated the associations between cyberbullying victimization and adolescents’ cyberbullying perpetration. Consequently, we suggest that the ability to describe and identify one’s own feelings might be important for understanding the link between cyberbullying, victimization, and perpetration. The results may help develop prevention and intervention programs focused on reducing cyberbullying. KW - alexithymia KW - cyberbully-victims KW - cyberbullying KW - cybervictimization KW - mediation Y1 - 2017 UR - http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/12/1530 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14121530 SN - 1660-4601 VL - 14 IS - 12 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Bilz, Ludwig A1 - Fischer, Saskia M. A1 - Schubarth, Wilfried A1 - Wright, Michelle F. T1 - Students’ Willingness to Intervene in Bullying: Direct and Indirect Associations with Classroom Cohesion and Self-Efficacy T2 - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health N2 - Although school climate and self-efficacy have received some attention in the literature, as correlates of students’ willingness to intervene in bullying, to date, very little is known about the potential mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between classroom climate and students’ willingness to intervene in bullying. To this end, the present study analyzes whether the relationship between classroom cohesion (as one facet of classroom climate) and students’ willingness to intervene in bullying situations is mediated by self-efficacy in social conflicts. This study is based on a representative stratified random sample of two thousand and seventy-one students (51.3% male), between the ages of twelve and seventeen, from twenty-four schools in Germany. Results showed that between 43% and 48% of students reported that they would not intervene in bullying. A mediation test using the structural equation modeling framework revealed that classroom cohesion and self-efficacy in social conflicts were directly associated with students’ willingness to intervene in bullying situations. Furthermore, classroom cohesion was indirectly associated with higher levels of students’ willingness to intervene in bullying situations, due to self-efficacy in social conflicts. We thus conclude that: (1) It is crucial to increase students’ willingness to intervene in bullying; (2) efforts to increase students’ willingness to intervene in bullying should promote students’ confidence in dealing with social conflicts and interpersonal relationships; and (3) self-efficacy plays an important role in understanding the relationship between classroom cohesion and students’ willingness to intervene in bullying. Recommendations are provided to help increase adolescents’ willingness to intervene in bullying and for future research. KW - bullying KW - intervention KW - willingness to intervene KW - verbal bullying KW - relational bullying KW - aggression KW - school KW - classroom climate KW - classroom cohesion KW - self-efficacy Y1 - 2018 UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/11/2577/pdf U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15112577 SN - 1660-4601 VL - 15 IS - 11 ER - 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 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Görzig, Anke A1 - Wright, Michelle F. A1 - Schubarth, Wilfried A1 - Bilz, Ludwig T1 - Associations among adolescents’ relationships with parents, peers, and teachers, self-efficacy, and willingness to intervene in bullying: A social cognitive approach T2 - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health N2 - We applied the Social Cognitive Theory to investigate whether parent–child relationships, bullying victimization, and teacher–student relationships are directly as well as indirectly via self-efficacy in social conflicts associated with adolescents’ willingness to intervene in a bullying incident. There were 2071 (51.3% male) adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 from 24 schools in Germany who participated in this study. A mediation test using structural equation modeling revealed that parent–child relationships, bullying victimization, and teacher–student relationships were directly related to adolescents’ self-efficacy in social conflicts. Further, teacher–student relationships and bullying victimization were directly associated with adolescents’ willingness to intervene in bullying. Finally, relationships with parents, peers and teachers were indirectly related to higher levels of students’ willingness to intervene in bullying situations due to self-efficacy in social conflicts. Thus, our analysis confirms the general assumptions of Social Cognitive Theory and the usefulness of applying its approach to social conflicts such as bullying situations. KW - bullying KW - intervention KW - willingness to intervene KW - bullying victimization KW - school KW - parent-child relationship KW - teacher-student relationship KW - self-efficacy Y1 - 2020 UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/2/420 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17020420 SN - 1660-4601 VL - 17 IS - 2 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Wettstein, Alexander A1 - Bilz, Ludwig A1 - Espelage, Dorothy L. A1 - Wright, Michelle F. A1 - Gámez-Guadix, Manuel T1 - Individual and Contextual Correlates of Latent Bystander Profiles toward Racist Hate Speech: A Multilevel Person-centered Approach T2 - Journal of Youth and Adolescence N2 - Prior research into bystander responses to hate speech has utilized variable-centered analyses — such approaches risk simplifying the complex nature of bystander behaviors. Hence, the present study used a person-centered analysis to investigate latent hate speech bystander profiles. In addition, individual and classroom-level correlates associated with the various profiles were studied. The sample included 3225 students in grades 7–9 (51.7% self-identified as female; 37.2% with immigrant background) from 215 classrooms in Germany and Switzerland. The latent profile analysis revealed that four distinct profiles could be distinguished: Passive Bystanders (34.2%), Defenders (47.3%), Revengers (9.8%), and Contributors (8.6%). Multilevel logistic regression models showed common and distinct correlates. For example, students who believed that certain social groups are superior were more likely to be Revengers and Contributors than Passive Bystanders, students who felt more connected with teachers were more likely to be Defenders, and students who were more open to diversity were less likely to be Contributors than Passive Bystanders. Students were less likely Defenders and more likely Revengers and Contributors than Passive Bystanders in classrooms with high rates of hate speech perpetration. Further, in classrooms with high hate speech intervention, students were more likely to be Defenders and less likely to be Contributors than Passive Bystanders. In classrooms with stronger cohesion, students were more likely to be Defenders and less likely to be Contributors than Passive Bystanders. In conclusion, the findings add to our understanding of bystander profiles concerning racist hate speech and the relevance of individual and classroom-level factors in explaining various profiles of bystander behavior. KW - Hate speech KW - Bystanders KW - School climate KW - Social skills KW - Latent profile analysis KW - Multilevel modeling Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-024-01968-x SN - 0047-2891 VL - 53 IS - 6 SP - 1271 EP - 1286 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC ER -