Risk and protective factors against cyberhate in secondary schools in Andalusia: A longitudinal study

The rapid development of information and communication technologies provides new opportunities for learning and social relationships. Cyberspace offers many educational possibilities and it can be a space that facilitates inclusion of all the students. Nevertheless, it is also a context for violence.  Both in face-to-face situations and in cyberspace, hate speech incites violence and it is one of the major risks against peace and democracy. Thus, the objective of this project was to discover the prevalence rates and characteristics of exposure and production of cyberhate in Andalusian students, together with its risk and protective factors. This was a prospective longitudinal study with a representative sample of Andalusian compulsory secondary education students who were surveyed at the beginning and at the end of the school year.  The project described prevalence rates of cyberhate in Andalusian adolescents (exposure, production and victimisation), including details regarding its context and circumstances in which it appears. We have described to what extent it is a stable or sporadic phenomenon and who are the adolecents involved in this problem. Also, longitudinal risk and protective factors related to the beginning of involvement and more or less continuity have been measured. Taking into account the rise in populism and extremist ideas around the world, the results of this study will be useful to improve inclusion and promote democracy and peace.