The offline roots of online hostility: Adult and childhood administrative records correlate with individual-level hostility on Twitter

Stig Hebbelstrup Rye Rasmussen, Alexander Bor, Michael Bang Petersen

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaperJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Reducing hostility in social media interactions is a key public concern. Most extant research emphasizes how online contextual factors breed hostility. Here, we take a different perspective and focus on the offline roots of hostility, that is, offline experiences and stable individual-level dispositions. Using a unique dataset of Danish Twitter users (N = 4,931), we merge data from administrative government registries with a behavioral measure of online hostility. We demonstrate that individuals with more aggressive dispositions (as proxied by having many more criminal verdicts) are more hostile in social media conversations. We also find evidence that features of childhood environments predict online hostility. Time spent in foster care is a strong correlate, while other indicators of childhood instability (e.g., the number of moves and divorced parents) are not. Furthermore, people from more resourceful childhood environments—those with better grades in primary school and higher parental socioeconomic status—are more hostile on average, as such people are more politically engaged. These results offer an important reminder that much online hostility is rooted in offline experiences and stable dispositions. They also provide anuanced view of the core group of online aggressors. While these individuals display general antisocial personality tendencies by having many more criminal verdicts, they also come from resourceful backgrounds more often than not.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2412277121
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume121
Issue44
Pages (from-to)e2412277121
ISSN0027-8424
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2024

Keywords

  • childhood dispositions
  • online hostility
  • social media

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