Wachs, Sebastian ORCID: 0000-0003-2787-6646, Mazzone, Angela ORCID: 0000-0002-5858-8033, Milosevic, Tijana ORCID: 0000-0003-1502-7479, Wright, Michelle F., Blaya, Catherine ORCID: 0000-0002-2147-5094, Gámez-Guadix, Manuel ORCID: 0000-0002-1575-1662 and O'Higgins Norman, James ORCID: 0000-0003-0997-6942 (2021) Online correlates of cyberhate involvement among young people from ten European countries: an application of the routine activity and problem behaviour theory. Computers in Human Behavior, 123 . ISSN 0747-5632
Abstract
Recent evidence shows that young people across Europe are encountering hateful content on the Internet. However, there is a lack of empirically tested theories and investigation of correlates that could help to understand young people’s involvement in cyberhate. To fill this gap, the present study aims to test the Routine Activity Theory to explain cyberhate victimisation and the Problem Behaviour Theory to understand cyberhate perpetration. Participants were 5433 young people (M age =14.12, SD age =1.38; 49.8% boys from ten countries of the EU Kids Online IV survey). Self-report questionnaires were administered to assess cyberhate involvement, experiences of data misuse, frequency of contact with unknown people online, problematic aspects of sharenting, excessive Internet use, and sensation seeking. Results showed that being a victim of cyberhate was positively associated with target suitability (e.g., experiences of data misuse, and contact with unknown people), lack of capable guardianship (e.g., problematic facets of sharenting), and exposure to potential offenders (e.g., witnessing cyberhate, and excessive Internet use). Findings support the general usefulness of using Routine Activity Theory to explain cyberhate victimisation. Being a perpetrator of cyberhate was positively associated with several online problem behaviours (e.g., having contact with unknown people online, excessive Internet use, and sensation seeking), which supports the general assumption of the Problem Behaviour Theory. The findings of this research can be used to develop intervention and prevention programmes on a local, national, and international level.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article (Published) |
---|---|
Refereed: | Yes |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | cyberhate; Hate speech; Excessive internet use; Sharenting; Sensation seeking; Data misuse |
Subjects: | UNSPECIFIED |
DCU Faculties and Centres: | DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Engineering and Computing > School of Computing |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Official URL: | https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106872 |
Copyright Information: | © 2021 The Authors. Open Access (CC-BY 4.0) |
ID Code: | 27788 |
Deposited On: | 26 Sep 2022 12:31 by Thomas Murtagh . Last Modified 10 Jan 2023 15:27 |
Documents
Full text available as:
Preview |
PDF
- Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
623kB |
Downloads
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year
Archive Staff Only: edit this record