Online Hate Speech and Adolescents' Well-Being: Unraveling Its Daily Impact on Youth with Migrant Background as part of the symposium "The Faces of Online Hate Speech: Who Is Exposed, Who Stands Up, and Who Pays the Price?"

Online Hate Speech (OHS) is associated with depressive symptoms and other negative outcomes (Wachs et al., 2022). However, longitudinal studies on its impact during adolescence remain limited, and little is known about the daily processes linking OHS exposure to adolescents’ emotional experiences. Among vulnerable groups, individuals with a migrant background often face additional challenges both online and offline, yet research on the psychological impact of OHS in these populations is scarce. A forthcoming systematic review (Marras et al., in preparation) highlights the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and emotional distress among targets of OHS, but methodological limitations—such as the lack of longitudinal designs—hinder a deeper understanding of processes involved. This study examines the daily impact of OHS on positive and negative emotions and well-being among students with a migrant background, compared to their majority-group peers. It also explores the moderating roles of ethnic identity and social support in shaping the impact of these experiences. By leveraging Intensive Longitudinal Data (Bolger & Laurenceau, 2013), this study provides ecologically valid insights into how OHS exposure affects adolescents’ emotions and well-being in everyday life As part of a multicentric project, the study involves 84 high school classes (9th–10th grade) across Italy, with data collection taking place between January and March 2025. Students will complete two survey waves and an in between 27-day daily diary to track OHS exposure, emotional responses (PANAS), loneliness, behavioral difficulties (SDQ), ethnic identity (MEIM-R), and social support. Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling (DSEM; Hamaker et al., 2018) will be used to analyze intra-individual fluctuations, focusing on first- and second-generation immigrant students (≈10% of participants) and comparing findings with the majority group.