Defining Online Hating and Online Haters

The Role of Victim's Resilience and Self-Esteem in Experiencing Internet Hate

Despite the growing prevalence of research on Internet hate, little is still known about the psychological factors that differentiate those who are negatively affected by being subjected to Internet hate and those who are not affected at all or only to a small degree. In the present studies, we aimed to verify if resilience and self-esteem could be predictors of such responses. A total of 60 public figures (politicians, athletes, and artists; 46.7% women) and 1128 ordinary Internet users (25.1% women) participated in the study. Participants completed The Brief Resilience Scale, The Self-Esteem Scale, and The Internet Hate Concern Scale, which was created for this study, and determined how often they experience hate online. The results showed that the public figures experience Internet hate more often but were less concerned with it than the ordinary Internet users, who received online hate less often, but were more worried about it. In both groups, high self-esteem and high resilience were negative predictors of greater concern with received online hate. Our study is the first step to understanding what makes the difference between people who cope well and are not particularly concerned, and people who are greatly affected by received Internet hate.