Youths’ coping with cyberhate: Roles of parental mediation and family support

Abstract

Adolescents around the world are increasingly exposed to cyberhate. More knowledge is needed to understand how adolescents cope with cyberhate and how they can be supported when exposed. To this end, the present study investigated the associations between parental mediation of Internet use and adolescents’ problem-focused coping strategies for hypothetical cyberhate victimization while considering family support as a moderator of these relationships. The sample consisted of self-reports of 5,960 adolescents between 12-18 years old (M=14.94; SD=1.61; females: 50.7%) from Cyprus, Germany, Greece, India, Spain, South Korea, and Thailand. A structural equation model was used to investigate the relationship among parental mediation, family support, and coping with cyberhate. Findings showed a positive relationship between instructive parental mediation and adolescents’ problem-focused coping strategies, and a negative relationship between restrictive parental mediation and adolescents’ capability to cope productively with cyberhate. In addition, family support strengthened the positive relationship between instructive parental mediation and adolescents’ use of coping strategies and attenuated the negative relationship between restrictive parental mediation and adolescents’ use of coping strategies. The findings highlight the need for parental education training and underscore the importance of family support for increasing adolescents’ ability to cope productively with cyberhate.