The relationship between perceived parenting dimensions, attachment, and pre-adolescent bullying

Abstract

This study investigated the mediating and/or moderating role of pre-adolescent learners’ perception of their parent-child attachment on the relationships between perceived parenting dimensions (acceptance, firm control, and psychological control) and types of bullying experience (physical, verbal, social-relational, and cyber-bullying). We sampled 1 078 pre-adolescent learners attending primary schools in the Free State, South Africa (black Southern Sotho = 43.1%; white Afrikaans = 56.9%; females = 59.1%; males = 40.9%; mean age = 11.24 years, SD = 0.68 years). The participants completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment Revised for Children, the Child’s Report of Parental Behaviour Inventory-30, and the Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument: Bully/Target. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated parent-child attachment to mediate the relationships between parental acceptance and bullying experiences, except for verbal bullying perpetration where it acted as a moderator. Parent-child attachment mediated the associations between parental firm control and two types of bullying experiences; namely, physical bullying perpetration and verbal bullying perpetration. Parent-child attachment statuses should inform interventions aimed to address bullying behaviour experiences among pre-adolescents.

Keywords:

• anti-bullying interventions
• bullying perpetration
• parent-child relationship
• puberty
• victimisation