Title:The Moderating Role of Parenting Styles in Adolescents’ Bullying and Depression
Volume: 11
Issue: 1
Author(s): Anat Brunstein Klomek*Kineret Koren
Affiliation:
- Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzlyia,Israel
Keywords:
Bullying, depression, parenting styles, authoritarian, adolescent, moderation.
Abstract:
Background: Bullying others among school-aged youth is a worldwide
phenomenon that has a variety of adverse outcomes, depression being one of them.
Objective: The objective of the current study was to examine whether perceived
parenting styles moderated the relationship between bullying others and depression
among adolescents. It was hypothesized that perceived authoritarian parenting
would increase the association between bullying others and depression than nonauthoritarian
parents.
Methods: The sample included 116 adolescents aged 12-17, with a mean age of
13.87. The percentage of male participants was 47.41%. We used self-report
questionnaires, which measured the different variables in the study (bullying,
perceptions of parenting styles, and depression).
Results: A positive correlation between bullying others and depressive symptoms
was found. Bullying others and perceived authoritarian parenting style were also
correlated, and a positive correlation was found between perceived authoritarian
parenting style and depressive symptoms. The moderation effect of perceived
parenting style on the association between bullying others and depressive
symptoms was found significant. Among adolescents perceiving their parents as
authoritarian, the association between bullying others and depressive symptoms
was found to be stronger. In contrast, among adolescents perceiving their parents as
non-authoritarian, the association was low.
Conclusion: Results of this study have important clinical implications by
understanding the parenting component in the association between bullying others
and depression. Our results suggest that the psychological outcomes for bullies may
depend, among other things, on their perception of parents' parenting style.