Understanding bystanders’ behaviour to cyberhate: An explanatory approach from the theory of normative social behaviour

Cyberhate is a new form of cyberviolence among adolescents with high social and scientific concern. Although previous research has examined aggressors and victims, far less attention has been given to bystanders. Examining how adolescents respond when witnessing cyberhate, and the factors that shape these behaviours, is essential within a solid theoretical framework. For that, this study aims to 1) find out the responses of adolescent bystanders to cyberhate; 2) explore whether the Theory of Normative Social Behaviour (TNSB) can be useful as explanatory framework of adolescents’ responses; and 3) examine whether the TNSB shows a better explanatory capacity with the inclusion of behavioural (i.e., toxic online disinhibition), personal (i.e., empathy) and contextual variables (i.e., online parental supervision) compared to the model based solely on social norms. The study included 2,539 Spanish students (49.1% boys, 49.2% girls, 1.7% other) aged 11–18 years (M = 14.07; SD = 1.39). Structural equation models were applied to test the TNSB. Findings showed adolescents predominantly use defending behaviour (supporting victims), followed by passive (not getting involved) and reinforcing behaviour (supporting aggressors). Good fits and explanatory variances were found for the three behaviours, especially when including toxic online disinhibition, empathy, and online parental supervision. Results highlight the importance of subjective norms and empathy in all bystanders’ behaviours. In reinforcing and passive behaviours, friends’ and family's injunctive norms, descriptive norms, and toxic online disinhibition were also relevant. Online parental supervision was also related to defending and passive behaviours. Likewise, in passive behaviour, the collective norms were significant. These findings support the explanatory validity of the TNSB on cyberhate bystanders’ behaviour, especially for active behaviours, providing relevant results for future psychoeducational programs.