BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Hum. Dyn.
Sec. Social Networks
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fhumd.2025.1632091
The perpetration of on-and offline hate speech among secondary school students
Provisionally accepted
Juan Manuel Bellido Cáceres
Pilar Rodriguez Martinez
Joaquín Jaime Sánchez Espinosa*
Lucía Martínez Joya- University of Almeria, Almería, Spain
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This study analyses the relationships between witnessing and perpetrating hate speech, both on-and offline. It is based on data extracted from a purpose-designed questionnaire answered by a total of 571 secondary school students in Almería. We used SPSS software to analyse the data collected, employing statistical analysis techniques that included binary logistic regression, and chi-square and omnibus tests of model coefficients to determine consistency.The relationships between hate speech in both environments point to an escalation of violence and transference between online and in-person aggressions. Also evident is the influence of close social environments, such as violence in schools. When a student suffers hate speech in either environment, the likelihood of them going on to perpetrate hate speech increases significantly. We conclude that the perpetration of hate speech, both on-and offline, is explained by students having witnessed or suffered in-person hate speech; having seen or heard hate speech online; and, above all, having suffered hate speech online.
Keywords: social media 3, social problems4, school community relationship5, Hate speech, Secondary school students
Received: 20 May 2025; Accepted: 24 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bellido Cáceres, Rodriguez Martinez, Sánchez Espinosa and Martínez Joya. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Joaquín Jaime Sánchez Espinosa, University of Almeria, Almería, Spain
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