Associations between Coping Strategies and Cyberhate Involvement: Evidence from Adolescents across Three World Regions

Sebastian Wachs, Juan Manuel Machimbarrena, Michelle F. Wright, Manuel Gámez-Guadix, Soeun Yang, Ruthaychonnee Sittichai, Ritu Singh, Ramakrishna Biswal, Katerina Flora, Vassiliki Daskalou, Evdoxia Maziridou, Jun Sung Hong and Norman Krause
Additional contact information
Sebastian Wachs: Department of Educational Studies, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
Juan Manuel Machimbarrena: Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country, 20018 Donostia, Spain
Michelle F. Wright: National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre, Dublin City University, D09 AW21 Dublin, Ireland
Manuel Gámez-Guadix: Department of Biological and Health Psychology, Autonomous University of Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Soeun Yang: Center for Digital Humanities & Computational Social Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Korea
Ruthaychonnee Sittichai: Kids and Youth Development Research Center, Research Center for Educational Innovations and Teaching and Learning Excellence, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prince of Songkla University, Muang, Pattani 94000, Thailand
Ritu Singh: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar 263145, India
Ramakrishna Biswal: Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela 769008, India
Katerina Flora: Department of Psychology, Neapolis University Pafos, Pafos 8042, Cyprus
Vassiliki Daskalou: Department of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Evdoxia Maziridou: Department of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Jun Sung Hong: School of Social Work, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
Norman Krause: Department of Educational Studies, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 11, 1-14

Abstract: Cyberhate represents a risk to adolescents’ development and peaceful coexistence in democratic societies. Yet, not much is known about the relationship between adolescents’ ability to cope with cyberhate and their cyberhate involvement. To fill current gaps in the literature and inform the development of media education programs, the present study investigated various coping strategies in a hypothetical cyberhate scenario as correlates for being cyberhate victims, perpetrators, and both victim–perpetrators. The sample consisted of 6829 adolescents aged 12–18 years old ( M age = 14.93, SD = 1.64; girls: 50.4%, boys: 48.9%, and 0.7% did not indicate their gender) from Asia, Europe, and North America. Results showed that adolescents who endorsed distal advice or endorsed technical coping showed a lower likelihood to be victims, perpetrators, or victim–perpetrators. In contrast, if adolescents felt helpless or endorsed retaliation to cope with cyberhate, they showed higher odds of being involved in cyberhate as victims, perpetrators, or victim–perpetrators. Finally, adolescents who endorsed close support as a coping strategy showed a lower likelihood to be victim–perpetrators, and adolescents who endorsed assertive coping showed higher odds of being victims. In conclusion, the results confirm the importance of addressing adolescents’ ability to deal with cyberhate to develop more tailored prevention approaches. More specifically, such initiatives should focus on adolescents who feel helpless or feel inclined to retaliate. In addition, adolescents should be educated to practice distal advice and technical coping when experiencing cyberhate. Implications for the design and instruction of evidence-based cyberhate prevention (e.g., online educational games, virtual learning environments) will be discussed.

Keywords: cyberhate; hate speech; coping strategies; cross-national; counter-speech (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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