Validation of the multidimensional bystander responses to racist hate speech scale and its association with empathy and moral disengagement among adolescents

Abstract

Our understanding of how bystanders respond to hate speech is limited. This may be due, in part, to the lack of available measurement tools. However, understanding adolescents’ responses to hate speech is critical because this kind of research can support schools in empowering students to exhibit courageous moral behavior. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the newly developed Multidimensional Bystander Responses to Hate Speech Scale (MBRHS) and to explore demographic differences and correlates of bystander behavior in school hate speech. The sample consisted of 3225 seventh to ninth graders from Germany and Switzerland. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a model with seven factors. We found that adolescents with immigrant background and boys showed particularly unfavorable response patterns. In addition, our study suggests that empathy is positively correlated with the factors comforting the victim, seeking help at school, and countering hate speech but negatively correlated with helplessness, revenge, reinforcing, and ignoring. Moral disengagement showed the opposite correlational pattern. The findings indicate that the MBRHS is a psychometrically valid and reliable measure that could aid in measuring varied responses to hate speech. In addition, this work highlights the relevance of empathy and moral engagement training in anti-hate speech prevention programs.