The relation of classroom climate to adolescents' countering hate speech via social skills: A positive youth development perspective

Abstract

Introduction Hate speech is a current challenge for schools around the globe. At the same time, students worldwide stand up to hate speech by countering it. Guided by a positive youth development perspective, the present study investigated the direct and indirect associations between classroom climate (environmental assets), social skills (personal assets), and countering hate speech (as a proxy of thriving) among adolescents. Methods The sample included 3225 students in grades 7–9 (51.7% self‐identified as female) from 40 schools in Germany (n = 1841) and Switzerland (n = 1384). Students completed self‐report questionnaires that assessed classroom climate, three facets of social skills (i.e., perspective‐taking, prosocial behavior, assertiveness), and counterspeech. Results The results of the 2‐(1‐1‐1)‐1 multilevel mediation analysis revealed that classroom climate (L2) and the three facets of social skills (L1) had a direct positive effect on counterspeech (L1). Furthermore, classroom climate (L2) also had a direct positive effect on the three facets of social skills (L1). Finally, classroom climate (L2) had an indirect positive effect on counterspeech (L1) via all three aspects of social skills (L1). Conclusion The findings highlight that successful anti‐hate speech programs may entail a combination of environmental and personal factors for increasing adolescents' active contribution to an inclusive and discrimination‐free classroom environment where hate speech is not tolerated.

Individual and Contextual Correlates of Latent Bystander Profiles toward Racist Hate Speech: A Multilevel Person-centered Approach

“…The current study's identification of Defenders aligns with prior variable-centered research that has consistently highlighted the role of individual traits such as empathy, prosocial behavior, and assertiveness in predicting defending behavior (Wachs et al, 2024;Wachs et al, 2023b). The positive influence of a strong teacher-student relationship on the likelihood of a student becoming a Defender also resonates with past findings that supportive adult relationships are crucial to fostering student resilience and bystander intervention in bullying (Konishi et al, 2021;Mulvey et al, 2019;.…”

“…Today, there is limited empirical evidence on the association between social skills and bystander behavior in the context of hate speech. One study revealed a positive connection to young people's willingness to counter hate speech (Wachs et al, 2023b). Other research found that empathy was positively related to countering hate speech, searching for help at school, and supporting the target but was negatively associated with reinforcing the perpetrator, revenge, helplessness, and ignoring (Wachs et al, 2024).…”

“…As a result, it is likely that in classrooms with solid group cohesion, students are less likely to tolerate hate speech and ignore such incidents and more likely to counter hate speech if students violate social norms of fairness, helping, and mutual respect. Indeed, initial research revealed that in classrooms with higher cohesion, students were more likely to counter hate speech (Wachs et al, 2023b). In addition, other research found that group dynamics within the classroom influence the occurrence of hate speech and partially explained why students join in perpetrating hate speech (Ballaschk et al, 2021;Wachs et al, 2022b).…”

Дослідження Асертивності В Організації Часової Перспективи Здобувачів Вищої Освіти

“…Other studies demonstrated a comparative investigation of training impacts with a health-preserving effect on students and mental states of self-actualization (Popovych et al, 2022b). It was explored by S. Wachs et al (2023) that the formation of social skills, which are in the plane of assertiveness, contributes to the strengthening of social and psychological climate of the class and serves as a prevention of hostile attitudes. It was found that with the increase of mindfulness and psychological well-being, anxiety demonstrated an inverse correlation and had a statistically significant advantage in the control group over the experimental group .…”

“…В інших дослідженнях продемонстровано порівняльне дослідження тренувальних впливів зі здоров'язбережувальним ефектом студентів та психічними станами самоактуалізації . Досліджено S. Wachs et al (2023), що формування соціальних навичок, які лежать у площині асертивності, сприяє зміцненню соціально-психологічного клімату класу і є профілактикою ворожих настроїв. Досліджено, що зі збільшенням виміру уважності та психологічного благополуччя тривожність продемонструвала зворотну залежність і мала статистично достовірну перевагу в контрольній групі над експериментальною .…”