An Investigation of the Relation between Online and Offline Violence: Methodological and Theoretical Considerations

Melanie Molenaar¹Frank Weerman²Ivy Defoe^3*

• ¹BMC, Amersfoort, Netherlands
• ²Netherlands Institute Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• ³University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Introduction: Research focusing on whether exposure to “online” violence via social media (exposure to violent content, such as videos of beatings or fights) predicts the use of physical “offline” violence (from hitting and threatening someone to violence against objects) in real-life is scarce and consists of mostly qualitative studies. The current quantitative study was designed to investigate this association while controlling for gender, and used the General Aggression Model (GAM) and the Developmental Neuro-ecological Risk-taking Model (DNERM) for its theoretical framework. Additionally, to what extent developmental stage (adolescents vs. young adults) and (offline) peer deviancy moderate this association was explored. We further used two separate measures of exposure to violent social media: (1) violent social media exposure in general and (2) violent social media exposure by friends. Methods: A total of 292 ethnically- and socio-economically-diverse Dutch youth between 16-24 years (M = 19.52; SD = 3.218) participated in a survey study. Results: Consistent with our theoretical frameworks, stepwise regression analyses supported the main hypothesis, as a significant association was found between the two measures of exposure to violent social media content and youth violence in real-life. However, we only found partial support for the moderation hypotheses: while peer deviancy was not a significant moderator, it was a significant predictor. Additionally, developmental stage was a significant predictor, and it was a significant moderator—but only when the “violent social media exposure in general” measure was used. Specifically, in support of DNERM, the results revealed that the link between violent social media exposure in general was stronger for adolescents (versus emerging adults). Discussion: The current results demonstrate for the first time that when it comes to the effect of violent social media exposure on real-life violence, it may matter who (friends versus non-friends) is posting the violent content, but it also matters who the audience (e.g., adolescents versus [emerging] adults) is, and whether peer deviancy is already taken into account. Experimental and longitudinal research on this topic are necessary to further establish these findings. Methodological and theoretical considerations when investigating such online influences are discussed to guide future research on this topic.