Peer-reviewed article
Observing flaming or trolling online: Prevalence in russian youth and adolescents and relationship to tolerance and aggression
Soldatova G, Chigarkova S, Koshevaya A, Rasskazova E ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how often Russian youth and adolescents experience flaming and trolling online, and whether observing these behaviours is linked to aggression and intolerance. More than half of adolescents and youth reported exposure to flaming or trolling, mostly as observers. Young people who observed these hostile online behaviours showed higher aggression and lower tolerance, with stronger effects in adolescents than in young adults.
Key points
- 51-69% of Russian adolescents and youth reported experience with flaming or trolling online
- Most exposure was as observers (32-65%), rather than as victims or initiators
- Parents accurately reported their children's flaming experience but significantly underestimated trolling experience
- Adolescents and youth observing flaming showed higher hostility, anger and physical aggression, and lower social tolerance
- Effects of observing trolling were stronger in adolescents than in older youth
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional and cannot establish causation between observing flaming/trolling and aggression or intolerance. The vignette-based assessment method may not fully capture real-world online experiences.
Abstract
Introduction Cyberaggression including the most wide-spread variants of flaming (O’Sullivan, Flanagin, 2003; Voggeser et al., 2017) and trolling (Buckels et al., 2018) is affecting mental health of adolescents and youth although it could be (Kowalski, 2014; Wright, Wachs, 2020). Objectives The aim was to study prevalence of flaming and trolling experience in Russian youth and adolescents and its relationship to general aggression and tolerance. Methods 525 adolescents 12-13 years old, 1029 adolescents 14-17 years old, 736 youth 18-30 years from 8 Federal regions in Russia appraised their experience of flaming or trolling online (as initiators, victims and observers) using vignettes. 1105 parents of adolescents appraised whether their children experienced flaming or trolling online. Then they filled Aggression Questionnaire (Buss, Perry, 1992) and Tolerance Index (Psychodiagnostics…, 2008). Results More than one-half of adolescents (51-58% in 12-13 years old and 64% in 14-17 years old) and youth (45-69%) reported experience of flaming and trolling online, mostly as observers (32-65%). Parents accurately appraised flaming experience in their children but underestimated trolling experience (p<.05). Adolescents and youth observing flaming online report higher hostility, anger and physical aggression (F=17.8-28.3, p<.01, η²=.02) while lower social tolerance (F=4.27, p<.05, η²=.01). In adolescents observing trolling online these effects are stronger than in youth observing trolling online (interaction: F=5.68, p<.05, η²=.01). Conclusions Observing trolling and flaming online is related to higher aggression and low tolerance in adolescents and youth and for adolescents the relationship is stronger. The reported study was funded by RFBR, project 20-013-00857. Conflict of interest The reported study was funded by RFBR, project 20-013-00857.