Adolescence Online Religious Content Consumption and Their Tendency Toward Violent Extremism

Abstract

Teenagers are at risk of engaging in dangerous behavior and accessing information from cyberspace. At the same time, extreme violent groups carry out propaganda on the internet. This study aims to examine the relationship between online religious learning and a person's tendency to violent extremism. This research is correlational quantitative research. Respondents are teenagers from five regions in Indonesia (N= 750) aged between 13-18 years old. Measurements of online religious learning behavior scores and violent extremism tendencies were measured using a scale. The scores of the two scales were tested using the Rho correlation test because they did not meet the requirements to be tested using parametric statistical tests. The test results show that there is no correlation between online religious learning behavior and the tendency of violent extremism (Rho = 0.017; p = 0.638). Additional analysis using ANOVA indicates social and educational factors play a role in the individual's process of becoming prone to violent extremism.