| Description |
Cyberhate refers to online hate speech and hate content. Recently, exposure to cyberhate has become a fairly prevalent experience, also involving young internet users (e.g., Hawdon et al., 2017). Cyberhate is defined by in-group and out-group distinctions and is connected to current socio-political and cultural context (Hanzelka & Schmidt, 2017; Kaakinen et al., 2018). Prior research already focused on cyberhate victimization, aggression, and exposure, and there are also several studies concerning cross-country comparisons of western countries (e.g., Costello et al., 2016, Hawdon et al., 2017). However, we lack knowledge about purposeful searching for cyberhate contents and what factors it is linked to. Moreover, there is still a gap in research about cyberhate in central Europe, specifically the Visegrad group countries, which are in the focus of this study (Czechia, Slovakia, Poland). To fulfill these gaps, our aim is to explore Visegrad children and adolescents (aged 11-17), who actively searched for cyberhate contents. In our investigation, we specifically focus on the factors that predict searching for cyberhate content in these countries. We used representative survey data from the EU Kids Online IV project collected in 2017/2018 (N = 3856). Results show that age, gender, and socio-economic status had no effect. However, cyberhate searching was positively predicted by normative beliefs about pro-active violence, sensation seeking, and emotional problems. We also tested for moderating effects and cross-country differences. Overall, Polish youth were more prone to search for cyberhate than youth in the other two countries. Theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.
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