ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. Elections and Representation
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1616180
This article is part of the Research TopicPolitical Communication Strategies and the Instrumentalization of Hate Speech in Electoral CampaignsView all articles
Asymmetric and sexist polarization: Political Self-Positioning as a Moderator of the Relationship between Extremism and the Justification of Violence among Adolescents
Provisionally accepted
- University of Almeria, Almería, Andalusia, Spain
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In this paper, we present the results of a study on violent extremism and political self-positioning of adolescents based on a questionnaire conducted in secondary schools in the province of Almería (Spain) in May 2022. The data for this research were collected from students in public and private secondary schools in Almería (4) and Madrid (1) in May 2022. We tried to answer the following questions: Are social extremism and the justification of violent illegal acts related? To what extent does political self-positioning moderate the relationship between extremism and justification of violent illegal acts among Alpha Generation adolescents? Does this occur in the same way for boys and girls? We proceeded to adapt and validate Ozer and Bertelsen's (2018) scale of violent extremism. For a sample of 1170 students aged 12-19 years, a hierarchical regression analysis was conducted using Hayes' (2022) PROCESS algorithm for a multicategorical moderator variable. The results indicate that political polarization among adolescents does not manifest itself in the same way for those who identify with the most radical ideologies on the political spectrum.The endorsement of pro-violence attitudes is a notable phenomenon, particularly among boys who align with the political extreme right.
Keywords: Asymmetric and sexist polarization, social extremism, Violence, Illegal acts, adolescents, political self-positioning, analysis of moderation, sex, Spain
Received: 22 Apr 2025; Accepted: 25 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Villegas Lirola, Rodriguez Martinez, Segura Sánchez and Martinez 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: Pilar Rodriguez Martinez, University of Almeria, Almería, 04120, Andalusia, Spain
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