A transactional model of bullying and victimization

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to develop and test a transactional model, based on longitudinal data, capable to describe the existing interrelation between maternal behavior and child bullying and victimization experiences over time. The results confirmed the existence of such a model for bullying, but not for victimization in terms of maternal involvement, although a transactional relationship was supported for both bullying and victimization when considering conflict between parents and children. More specifically, the study's results show that maternal involvement, including monitoring, predicts negatively both the initial value of bullying and its degree of change over time. In other words, the more a parent is involved, and the closer her supervision is, the less possible it is for her child to participate in bullying others activity. Moreover, the findings show that increases in bullying behavior on the part of the child cause a reduction in maternal involvement and monitoring over time. Finally, initial conflict between parents and children influence both bullying and victimization, and in turn, the development of bullying and victimization affects parent-child conflict. Hence, the findings of this study offer support to the hypothesis that parental and child behavior reciprocally influence each other, rather than one shaping the other in a unidirectional fashion.

Ecological Theory: Preventing Youth Bullying, Aggression, and Victimization

“…In a recent longitudinal study, exposure to family conflict (sibling aggression, yelling) was associated with greater bully perpetration for a large sample of middle school students (Espelage, Low, Rao, et al, 2013). Further, children who are victims of bullying more often come from families with histories of abuse or inconsistent parenting (Espelage, Low, & De La Rue, 2012;Georgiou & Fanti, 2010).…”

“…Bullies tend to have parents who do not provide adequate supervision or are not actively involved in the lives of their children (Espelage, Bosworth, & Simon, 2000;Georgiou & Fanti, 2010;. In other instances, parents may encourage the use of aggressive and retaliatory behaviors.…”

Parental Self-Efficacy and Bullying in Elementary School

“…Parental responsiveness also has been found to negatively relate to bullying (Georgiou, 2008;Georgiou & Fanti, 2010). These results tended to suggest that acceptable maternal/parental relations and involvement in children's school experiences may lead to protection against bullying and victimization, unlike overprotective and underprotective (neglectful) parenting.…”

Interfaces entre família e bullying escolar: uma revisão sistemática

“…Assim, quando são ineficazes, elas afetam negativamente os estudantes que adotam como estratégias de relacionamento interpessoal a violência e a agressão, mediadas por sentimentos de raiva e falta de disposição para resolver conflitos de forma positiva. Além disso, esse modelo punitivo de disciplina é associado a menor satisfação em relação à família e resistência à autoridade parental, aspectos também associados ao bullying (Georgiou & Fanti, 2010;Knous-Westfall et al, 2012;Pepler, Jiang, Craig, & Connolly, 2008).…”

“…Experiências positivas com pais que eram menos autoritários e em situações de menor abuso doméstico, bem como supervisão parental, maior envolvimento entre pai e filho e apego seguro com a figura materna são considerados fatores protetivos em relação ao bullying (Georgiou & Fanti, 2010;Lee, 2011;Ma & Bellmore, 2012).…”