Away from violence: A latent transition analysis on support for violent and non‐violent radicalization among adolescents

Background: Support for violent and non-violent radicalization co-exists in some, but not all, adolescents. Yet, littleis known about how adolescents transition towards or away from violent and/or non-violent radicalization over time.Within a socio-ecological framework, this study investigates how Canadian adolescents move from profiles thatsupport violent radicalization to non-violent profiles and vice-versa and whether profile belonging is associated withsocial-, school- and family-related factors, psychological distress and specific ideologies. Methods: High schoolstudents (N = 574; Mage = 15.1; SDage = 0.76; 47.7% girls) completed an online survey in 2023 and 2024. A latenttransition analysis on scores of support for violent and non-violent radicalization was conducted. Multinomialregression was used to explore the associations between profiles and variables of interest. Results: Adolescentsmoved significantly across the six identified profiles over time. School unsafety was associated with an increasedprobability of being in more violent profiles, whereas depressive symptoms were lower in disengaged and violentprofiles. Glorification of violence was higher in the more violent and less activist profile. Adolescents reporting moredistress related to international conflicts and pro-environmental ideologies were more likely to belong to more activistprofiles, including those supportive of violence. Conclusions: Exploration of activism and violence as idioms ofprotest is common during adolescence and youth’s attitudes in this regard are very dynamic, influenced by local andglobal grievances. Primary prevention efforts should accompany youth in their exploration in order to supportnon-violent avenues as responses to global conflicts, as well as daily injustices.