Beyond Childhood: Contemporary Social, Online, and Political Sources Shape Violent Behavioral Intentions in White American Adults

Hate crime rates are increasing, with the FBI reporting that 2023 had the highest levels ever in the United States (FBI, 2024). While developmental psychology research suggests childhood sources most influence political ideology development, this does not explain fluctuating rates of racial out-group violence over time. These changing rates suggest that additional contemporary factors affect this relationship. Online platforms are particularly concerning because they provide ideal spaces for racist individuals and groups to disseminate racist political rhetoric, offer camaraderie, organize, and mobilize. Exposure to these platforms potentially influences beliefs about biased violence acceptability by connecting individuals to broader sources of influence. This study examined which sources white American adults identifying from moderate to far-right report as influential in developing their political beliefs and how these sources may influence racist, violent behavioral intentions. Two hundred fifty-three participants (Mage = 46.19 years; Female = 57.17%) recruited from CloudResearch.com reported their top three influential sources from earlier and current life periods (6 total political influences per participant; 1517 total sources reported across the sample). They also rated the extent to which these sources endorse racial out-group violence and aggression, plus their own endorsement levels. Results showed that participants perceived strong consistency among their various influence sources (rs = .87 to .89) and reported similar violent behavioral intentions to those they attributed to their influences. However, systematic moral self-enhancement patterns emerged across all source types, with participants consistently rating themselves as less willing to engage in collective violence while maintaining ideological alignment with their influences. Current influences demonstrated stronger associations with participants' violent behavioral intentions than past influences across all analyses, with the most pronounced effects occurring when both temporal influence types aligned in supporting high levels of violence. Contrary to expectations, online media sources showed the weakest correlations and appeared to function as contrasting reference points rather than direct influences. Gender differences revealed that men showed greater responsiveness to high-violence online influences than women. These findings suggest that understanding violent behavioral intentions requires examining complex patterns of perceived agreement, temporal dynamics, and selective moral positioning rather than simple direct influence models.