The Relationship between parenting styles and relationally victimized adolescents’ adjustment: Moderation of parents’ victimization status during adolescence

Abstract

The present study examined the moderating role of parents’ victimization status during adolescence in the associations between parenting styles, depression, and anxiety among relationally victimized adolescents. There were 436 relationally victimized adolescents (M age = 13.26 years, SD = .56) included in this study, along with their parents (n = 436; M age = 47.01 years, SD = .83; 86% mothers), from the Midwestern region of the United States. Adolescents completed questionnaires on their experiences of relational victimization, depression, and anxiety, and perceptions of their parents’ parenting styles. Their parents completed a questionnaire on their relational victimization status during adolescence. Findings from the study revealed that the relationships between the permissive parenting style, depression, and anxiety among relationally victimized adolescents were stronger when adolescents’ parents were also victims of relational bullying during adolescence. These findings underscore the importance of considering parents’ peer victimization history during adolescence.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent
• anxiety
• authoritarian
• authoritative
• depression
• parenting style
• permissive
• relational victimization

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the adolescents and their parents who participated in this research.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts to report.

Ethical standards and informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michelle F. Wright

Michelle F Wright, Ph.D. is a research associate in the Department of Psychology at Penn State University and at DePaul University.

Jun Sung Hong

Jun Sung Hong, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Wayne State University.

Sebastian Wachs

Sebastian Wachs, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral researcher in the Faculty of Human Sciences at the University of Potsdam, Germany, and an affiliated researcher in the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Center at Dublin City University.