Predictors of lack of emotional awareness in emotional regulation of youth facing online hate speech

Abstract

Digital natives are wellknown multiplier vector factors  that perform a massive impact on youth over the internet. Digital naratives usually have both positive and negative impact on individuals’ wellbeing. Starting from the assumption that lack of emotional awareness in emotional regulation of youth in tensed digital environments can be predicted by several socio-psychological individual characteristics, our team has investigated variable relationships under a micro research driven from the database collected under the Erasmus+ project Hate’s Journey. Our team has elaborated an 18 items online instrument designed with single item measures, DERS-SF and other scales, investigating diverse perceptions regarding digital wellbeing and conduit. Under the project investigation, we have analyzed 206 valid responses of youth from Romania, Turkey, Spain and Latvia. Multiple linear regression analysis results confirm that internet content awareness, ignoring attitude towards the negative effects of hate speech, and digital behavior regulation, represent significant predictors, accounting for 46% of lack of emotional awareness in emotional regulation variance of youth facing online hate speech. Conclusions and implications are discussed.