Associations between witnessing and perpetrating online hate speech among adolescents: Testing moderation effects of moral disengagement and empathy.

Abstract

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.

Associations Between Classroom Climate, Empathy, Self-Efficacy, and Countering Hate Speech Among Adolescents: A Multilevel Mediation Analysis

“…This finding is aligned with research showing that empathy is negatively related to antisocial behavior, intolerance, and prejudice (Boag & Carnelley, 2016;Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008) and positively associated with defending victims of bullying (Deng et al, 2021;Van Noorden et al, 2015). Moreover, the present study extends previous research showing that empathy is negatively related to online hate speech perpetration among adolescents (Wachs et al, 2022a(Wachs et al, , 2022b.…”

“…In contrast, meta-analyses and systematic reviews revealed that high levels of empathy are related to defending victims of bullying against students who perpetrate bullying (e.g., Deng et al, 2021 ; Van Noorden et al, 2015 ). Other empirical research on hate speech found that adolescents are less likely to be perpetrators of such behavior when they think that online hate speech leads to negative consequences ( Wachs et al, 2022a , 2022b ). What is unknown so far is whether empathy for victims of hate speech is positively associated with counterspeech among adolescents.…”

Effects of the Prevention Program “HateLess. Together against Hatred” on Adolescents’ Empathy, Self-efficacy, and Countering Hate Speech

“…It can be assumed, for example, that understanding and feeling the affective situation of hate speech victims by vicariously experiencing their emotional distress might favor benign feelings for the victims and thus increase counter-speech. This assumption is in line with burgeoning research on hate speech that revealed that higher levels of empathy were negatively associated with the perpetration and acceptance of online hate speech (Celuch et al, 2022 ; Wachs, Bilz, et al, 2022 ). Another study revealed that adolescents who can understand and share the emotions of peers who become targets of hate speech were more likely to counter hate speech in favor of the victim (Wachs et al, 2023 ).…”

Perceived overall injustice and organizational deviance—Mediating effect of anger and moderating effect of moral disengagement

“…Few researchers have explored how moral disengagement affects individual behavioral decisions as a state or personal trait. In research that investigates the moderating effect of moral disengagement, scholars found that moral disengagement can be a stimulator when destructive behaviors happen ( Wang et al, 2018 ; Wachs et al, 2022 ). Individuals who perform deviant behaviors lack a sense of guilt or shame ( Loi et al, 2015 ), which implies that morally disengaged individuals are more likely to engage in destructive actions without scruple.…”