Empathy and gender effects on cyber-violence among Croatian youth

Abstract

This paper explores the effects of gender and affective and cognitive empathy on cyberviolence in youth. Data were available from 396 adolescents (202 [51%] females), aged 12 to 19 years, who completed questionnaires for empathy and cyber-violence. Analyses (2x2x2; committing and experiencing cyber-violence as dependent variables) showed that participants with a low level of empathy (either affective or cognitive) commit more, while those with a low level of cognitive empathy experience more cyber-violence. Males with a low level of empathy committed more cyber-violence than the other three groups (male with high level of empathy and female participants with both high and low level of empathy). The results indicate that both types of empathy may be protective factors from committing cyber-violence, with a higher level of cognitive empathy being connected with a lower level of experiencing cyber-violence.