To troll or not to troll: Young adults’ anti-social behaviour on social media

BACKGROUND: Online anti-social behaviour is on the rise, reducing the perceived benefits of social media in society and causing a number of negative outcomes. This research focuses on the factors associated with young adults being perpetrators of anti-social behaviour when using social media. METHOD: Based on an online survey of university students in Canada (n = 359), we used PLS-SEM to create a model and test the associations between four factors (online disinhibition, motivations for cyber-aggression, self-esteem, and empathy) and the likelihood of being a perpetrator of online anti-social behaviour. RESULTS: The model shows positive associations between two appetitive motives for cyber-aggression (namely recreation and reward) and being a perpetrator. This finding indicates that young adults engage in online anti-social behaviour for fun and social approval. The model also shows a negative association between cognitive empathy and being a perpetrator, which indicates that perpetrators may be engaging in online anti-social behaviour because they do not understand how their targets feel.