Protective Factors as Moderators of Risk Factors in Adolescence Bullying

Abstract

The present study examined the role played by protective factors in moderating the effects of risk factors over bullying and victimization in a sample of 679 male adolescents recruited in Italian high schools. Boys' involvement in bullying revealed that one in three students has bullied others at least sometimes in the previous three months, and one in six has been victimized at the same rate; victimization decreases with age. The family related risk factor (conflicting parents) was positively associated with bullying and with victimization (together with punitive parenting); the same applied for risk factor related to the individual ways of dealing with problems (emotionally oriented coping skills). Protective factors related to the family context (supportive and authoritative parents) and to the individual (problem solving coping skills) were negatively associated to bullying and victimization. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed a moderating effect of supportive parenting on punitive parenting and on emotionally oriented coping strategies in predicting victimization. Problem solving coping strategies helped buffer the negative impact of emotionally oriented coping strategies over bullying. Implications of results for practitioners and for future studies are addressed.

Dealing with laughter and ridicule in adolescence: relations with bullying and emotional responses

“…More awareness about laughter's positive but also detrimental effects and potential protective factors (e.g., Baldry and Farrington 2005) in education could have a positive impact on the development of young children and adolescents.…”

Los estilos educativos paternos y maternos en la adolescencia y su relación con la resiliencia, el apego y la implicación en acoso escolar

“…En este sentido, se demostró que el estilo democrático, además de ser el más frecuente, era el que más beneficiaba a los jóvenes, en térmi-nos de menores problemas internalizantes y externalizantes y mayor desarrollo positivo, satisfacción vital y autoestima. Estos resultados son congruentes con los de otras investigaciones, en los que se ha demostrado la mayor prevalencia del estilo democrático, comparada con la de los otros estilos (Hoeve, Dubas, Gerris, Van del Laan, & Smeenk, 2011;Oliva, et al, 2008;Torío, Peña, & Rodríguez, 2008;Wolfradt, Hempel, & Miles, 2003) y su beneficio en el ajuste adolescente a través de la prevención de delincuencia (Deutsch, Crockett, Wolff, & Russell, 2012;Hoeve, et al, 2011) y de la implicación en acoso escolar (Baldry & Farrington, 2005;Gómez-Ortiz, Del Rey, Casas, & OrtegaRuiz, 2014;Kawabata, Alink, Tsen, Van Ijzendoorn, & Crick, 2011), y el desarrollo de la autoestima (Alonso & Román, 2005), el rendimiento académico (Besharata, Azizia, & Poursharifib, 2011;Frey, Ruchkin, Martin, & SchwabStone, 2009), la competencia social y capacidad resiliente (Baumrind, 1991;Masten & Powell, 2003). Asimismo, los estudios realizados parecen sugerir la relación entre unas prác-ticas parentales coherentes con el estilo democrático y una mayor probabilidad de desarrollar un apego seguro (Cantón & Cortés, 2005), subyaciendo a esta última relación todos los beneficios adaptativos que se atribuyen a la generación de este tipo de apego.…”

All in the Family: A Retrospective Study Comparing Sibling Bullying and Peer Bullying

“…Risk factors for involvement in peer bullying have also been established including the family environment (Baldry and Farrington 2005;Bowes et al 2009;Farrington and Baldry 2010). Further, research has established a number of negative and long-term effects of bullying on mental and physical health, education, and self-esteem (Klomek et al 2007;Nation et al 2008;Brown and Taylor 2008).…”