Factors Associated with Online Hate Acceptance: A Cross-National Six-Country Study among Young Adults

Abstract

The Internet, specifically social media, is among the most common settings where young people encounter hate speech. Understanding their attitudes toward the phenomenon is crucial for combatting it because acceptance of such content could contribute to furthering the spread of hate speech as well as ideology contamination. The present study, theoretically grounded in the General Aggression Model (GAM), investigates factors associated with online hate acceptance among young adults. We collected survey data from participants aged 18–26 from six countries: Finland (n = 483), France (n = 907), Poland (n = 738), Spain (n = 739), the United Kingdom (n = 959), and the United States (n = 1052). Results based on linear regression modeling showed that acceptance of online hate was strongly associated with acceptance of violence in all samples. In addition, participants who admitted to producing online hate reported higher levels of acceptance of it. Moreover, association with social dominance orientation was found in most of the samples. Other sample-specific significant factors included participants’ experiences with the Internet and online hate, as well as empathy and institutional trust levels. Significant differences in online hate acceptance levels and the strength of its connections to individual factors were found between the countries. These results provide important insights into the phenomenon, demonstrating that online hate acceptance is part of a larger belief system and is influenced by cultural background, and, therefore, it cannot be analyzed or combatted in isolation from these factors.

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

“…The findings highlight the need to provide adolescents with the ability to respond emotionally and understand the emotions of victims of hate speech to increase adolescents’ readiness to argue, disagree or express an opposing view to hateful statements or content. The present result is supported by initial research showing a negative association between empathy and hate speech perpetration (Celuch et al, 2022 ; Wachs, Bilz, et al, 2022 ) and a positive link between empathy and counter-speech (Wachs et al, 2023 ). Overall, the findings are also mirrored by research that found a negative relationship between empathy and intolerance and prejudice and a positive link between empathy and prosocial behavior (Boag & Carnelley, 2016 ; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008 ).…”

“…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 ).…”

Exploring Cyberaggression and Mental Health Consequences among Adults: An Italian Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study

“…Our findings revealed that 46.3% of respondents were subjected to CyA and 77.1% witnessed such episodes at least once in their life, with even 13.5% of them confessing to having been a perpetrator. Furthermore, people involved in CyA episodes were younger than people who did not, consistent with previous research [ 5 , 29 , 30 ]. A recent survey conducted among adults in New Zealand reported that 14.9% of participants had been the target of cyberbullying at least once in their lifetime.…”

Dating Violence among Undergraduate Medical Students at a Public University in Mexico City: An Exploratory Study

“…Compared to physical (3.0%) and sexual abuse (6.1%), the prevalence of cyber-aggression was the highest (7.1%). It is also worth noting that almost half of the participants (43.5%) said they did not experience any mental health consequences due to cyber-aggression, which may reflect the stigma associated with mental health or tolerance towards this new form of social interaction [ 74 , 75 ]. Gender in medicine continues to play a controversial role [ 76 , 77 ]; however, paradoxically, in this study, we did not find a difference between male and female students in their risk of experiencing physical or sexual abuse by a dating partner.…”