Bullying Perpetration and Perceived Parental Monitoring: A Random Intercepts Cross-Lagged Panel Model

Abstract

Although parental monitoring often reduces youth risk behaviors, some research on bullying perpetration has found that parental monitoring deters bullying while other research has found a null effect or a positive effect. We investigated the bidirectional relationships of bullying perpetration and parental monitoring from age 11 to 18 years, leveraging data from four middle and six high schools in the Midwest (N = 3,549 students). We observed within-student stability in bullying perpetration and parental monitoring across time. Bullying perpetration had a prospective, negative association with parental monitoring from ages 11 to 12. However, parental monitoring predicted lower levels of bullying perpetration from ages 13 to 14. In early adolescence, youth who bully may be emboldened by a lack of perceived parental monitoring. Parental monitoring through establishment of house rules and awareness of risk during early to middle adolescence may deter bullying perpetration.

Keywords

aggressive behavior/bullying parenting quantitative methods

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abar

C. C.

Jackson

K. M.

Colby

S. M.

Barnett

N. P.

(2015). Parent–child discrepancies in reports of parental monitoring and their relationship to adolescent alcohol-related behaviors. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 44(9), 1688–1701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-014-0143-6

Arthur

M. W.

Hawkins

J. D.

Pollard

J. A.

Catalano

R. F.

Baglioni

A. J.

Jr . (2002). Measuring risk and protective factors for use, delinquency, and other adolescent problem behaviors: The communities that care youth survey. Evaluation Review, 26(6), 575–601. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193841X0202600601

Bowes

Maughan

Caspi

Moffitt

T. E.

Arseneault

(2010). Families promote emotional and behavioural resilience to bullying: Evidence of an environmental effect. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51(7), 809–817. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02216.x

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2006). Youth risk behavior surveillance-United States, 2005. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Surveillance Summaries, 55(5), 1–108.

Christie-Mizell

C. A.

Keil

J. M.

Laske

M. T.

Stewart

(2011). Bullying behavior, parents’ work hours and early adolescents’ perceptions of time spent with parents. Youth & Society, 43(4), 1570–1595. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X10388261

Copeland

W. E.

Wolke

Angold

Costello

E. J.

(2013). Adult psychiatric outcomes of bullying and being bullied by peers in childhood and adolescence. JAMA Psychiatry, 70(4), 419–426. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.504

Copeland

W. E.

Bulik

C. M.

Zucker

Wolke

Lereya

S. T.

Costello

E. J.

(2015). Does childhood bullying predict eating disorder symptoms? A prospective, longitudinal analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 48(8), 1141–1149. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22459

Criss

M. M.

Lee

T. K.

Morris

A. S.

Cui

Bosler

C. D.

Shreffler

K. M.

Silk

J. S.

(2015). Link between monitoring behavior and adolescent adjustment: An analysis of direct and indirect effects. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24(3), 668–678. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-013-9877-0

Dantchev

Zammit

Wolke

(2018). Sibling bullying in middle childhood and psychotic disorder at 18 years: A prospective cohort study. Psychological Medicine, 48(14), 2321–2328. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291717003841

10.

Del Rey

Lazuras

Casas

J. A.

Barkoukis

Ortega-Ruiz

Tsorbatzoudis

. (2016). Does empathy predict (cyber) bullying perpetration, and how do age, gender and nationality affect this relationship? Learning and Individual Differences, 45, 275–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2015.11.021

11.

Dishion

T. J.

Kim

Tein

(2015). Friendship and adolescent problem behavior: Deviancy training and coercive joining as dynamic mediators. In Beauchaine

T. P.

Hinshaw

S. P.

(Eds.), The Oxford handbook of externalizing spectrum disorders (pp. 303–311). Oxford University Press.

12.

Dishion

T. J.

McMahon

R. J.

(1998). Parental monitoring and the prevention of child and adolescent problem behavior: A conceptual and empirical formulation. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 1(1), 61–75. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1021800432380

13.

Dishion

T. J.

Nelson

S. E.

Kavanagh

(2003). The family check-up with high-risk young adolescents: Preventing early-onset substance use by parent monitoring. Behavior Therapy, 34(4), 553–571. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(03)80035-7

14.

Doty

J. L.

Gower

A. L.

Rudi

J. H.

McMorris

B. J.

Borowsky

I. W

. (2017). Patterns of bullying and sexual harassment: Connections with parents and teachers as direct protective factors. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 46(11), 2289–2304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0698-0

15.

Doty

J. L.

Gower

A. L.

Sieving

Plowman

McMorris

(2018). Cyberbullying victimization and perpetration, connectedness, and monitoring of online activities: Protection from parental figures. Social Sciences, 7(12), 265–278. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7120265

16.

Elder

G. H.

(1998). The life course as developmental theory. Child Development, 69(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06128.x

17.

Elsaesser

Russell

Ohannessian

C. M.

Patton

(2017). Parenting in a digital age: A review of parents’ role in preventing adolescent cyberbullying. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 35, 62–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2017.06.004

18.

Englund

M. M.

I-Chun Kuo

Puig

Collins

W. A.

(2011). Early roots of adult competence. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 35(6), 490–496. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025411422994

19.

Espelage

D. L.

Basile

K. C.

Rue

D. L.

Hamburger

M. E.

(2015). Longitudinal associations among bullying, homophobic teasing, and sexual violence perpetration among middle school students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30(14), 2541–2561. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260514553113

20.

Espelage

D. L.

Holt

M. K.

(2001). Bullying and victimization during early adolescence: Peer influences and psychosocial correlates. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 2(2–3), 123–142. https://doi.org/10.1300/J135v02n02_08

21.

Espelage

D. L.

Low

S. K.

Anderson

De La Rue

(2014). Bullying, sexual, and dating violence trajectories from early to late adolescence (Report submitted to the National Institute of Justice Grant #2011-MU-FX-0022). National Institute of Justice.

22.

Espelage

D. L.

Van Ryzin

M. J.

Holt

M. K.

(2018). Trajectories of bully perpetration across early adolescence: Static risk factors, dynamic covariates, and longitudinal outcomes. Psychology of Violence, 8(2), 141–150. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000095

23.

Finkelhor

Turner

H. A.

Shattuck

Hamby

S. L.

(2015). Prevalence of childhood exposure to violence, crime, and abuse: Results from the national survey of children’s exposure to violence. JAMA Pediatrics, 169(8), 746–754. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.0676

24.

Georgiou

S. N.

Stavrinides

(2013). Parenting at home and bullying at school. Social Psychology of Education, 16(2), 165–179.

25.

Gladden

R. M.

Vivolo-Kantor

A. M.

Hamburger

M. E.

Lumpkin

C. D.

(2014). Bullying surveillance among youths: Uniform definitions for public health and recommended data elements, version 1.0. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/bullying-definitions-final-a.pdf

26.

Hair

E. C.

Moore

K. A.

Garrett

S. B.

Ling

Cleveland

(2008). The continued importance of quality parent–adolescent relationships during late adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 18(1), 187–200. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2008.00556.x

27.

Hamaker

E. L.

Kuiper

R. M.

Grasman

R. P.

(2015). A critique of the cross-lagged panel model. Psychological Methods, 20(1), 102–116. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038889

28.

Healy

K. L.

Sanders

M. R.

Iyer

(2015). Facilitative parenting and children’s social, emotional and behavioral adjustment. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24(6), 1762–1779. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-9980-x

29.

Hemphill

S. A.

Kotevski

Herrenkohl

T. I.

Bond

Kim

M. J.

Toumbourou

J. W.

Catalano

R. F.

(2011). Longitudinal consequences of adolescent bullying perpetration and victimisation: A study of students in Victoria, Australia. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 21(2), 107–116. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbm.802

30.

Huang

Espelage

D. L.

Polanin

J. R.

Hong

J. S.

(2019). A meta-analytic review of school-based anti-bullying programs with a parent component. International Journal of Bullying Prevention, 1(1), 32–44.

31.

Iannotti

R. J.

(2013). Health behavior in school-aged children (HBSC), 2009-2010. Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research.

32.

Jantzer

Haffner

Parzer

Resch

Kaess

(2015). Does parental monitoring moderate the relationship between bullying and adolescent nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidal behavior? A community-based self-report study of adolescents in Germany. BMC Public Health, 15(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1940-x

33.

Keijsers

(2016). Parental monitoring and adolescent problem behaviors: How much do we really know? International Journal of Behavioral Development, 40(3), 271–281. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025415592515

34.

Kerr

Stattin

Özdemir

(2012). Perceived parenting style and adolescent adjustment: Revisiting directions of effects and the role of parental knowledge. Developmental Psychology, 48(6), 1540–1553. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027720

35.

Koepke

Denissen

J. J. A.

(2012). Dynamics of identity development and separation–individuation in parent–child relationships during adolescence and emerging adulthood–A conceptual integration. Developmental Review, 32(1), 68–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2012.01.001

36.

Laird

R. D.

Pettit

G. S.

Bates

J. E.

Dodge

K. A.

(2003). Parents’ monitoring-relevant knowledge and adolescents’ delinquent behavior: Evidence of correlated developmental changes and reciprocal influences. Child Development, 74(3), 752–768. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00566

37.

Laird

R. D.

Zeringue

M. M.

Lambert

E. S.

(2018). Negative reactions to monitoring: Do they undermine the ability of monitoring to protect adolescents? Journal of Adolescence, 63, 75–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2017.12.007

38.

Lebrun-Harris

L. A.

Sherman

L. J.

Limber

S. P.

Miller

B. D.

Edgerton

E. A.

(2019). Bullying victimization and perpetration among US children and adolescents: 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 28(9), 2543–2557.

39.

Lee

K. S.

Vaillancourt

. (2019). Unraveling the long-term links among adolescent peer victimization and somatic symptoms: A 5-year multi-informant cohort study. Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research, 24(4), e12166. https://doi.org/10.1111/jabr

40.

Lereya

S. T.

Samara

Wolke

(2013). Parenting behavior and the risk of becoming a victim and a bully/victim: A meta-analysis study. Child Abuse & Neglect, 37(12), 1091–1108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.03.001

41.

Lionetti

Palladino

B. E.

Moses Passini

Casonato

Hamzallari

Ranta

. . . Keijsers

(2018). The development of parental monitoring during adolescence: A meta-analysis. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 16(5), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2018.1476233

42.

Logis

H. A.

Rodkin

P. C.

Gest

S. D.

Ahn

(2013). Popularity as an organizing factor of preadolescent friendship networks: Beyond prosocial and aggressive behavior. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 23(3), 413–423. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12033

43.

Lopez-Tamayo

LaVome Robinson

Lambert

S. F.

Jason

L. A.

Ialongo

N. S.

(2016). Parental monitoring, association with externalized behavior, and academic outcomes in urban African-American youth: A moderated mediation analysis. American Journal of Community Psychology, 57(3–4), 366–379. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12056

44.

Low

Espelage

(2014). Conduits from community violence exposure to peer aggression and victimization: Contributions of parental monitoring, impulsivity, and deviancy. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 61(2), 221–231. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035207

45.

Madkour

A. S.

Clum

Miles

T. T.

Wang

Jackson

Mather

Shankar

(2017). Parental influences on heavy episodic drinking development in the transition to early adulthood. Journal of Adolescent Health, 61(2), 147–154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.04.002

46.

Meter

D. J.

Bauman

(2018). Moral disengagement about cyberbullying and parental monitoring: Effects on traditional bullying and victimization via cyberbullying involvement. Journal of Early Adolescence, 38(3), 303–326. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431616670752

47.

Muthén

Shedden

(1999). Finite mixture modeling with mixture outcomes using the EM algorithm. Biometrics, 55(2), 463–469. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0006-341x.1999.00463.x

48.

Muthén

L. K.

Muthén

B. O.

(2017). Mplus user’s guide (8th ed.).

49.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2016). Preventing bullying through science, policy, and practice. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/23482

50.

Padilla-Walker

L. M.

Son

Nelson

L. J.

(2018). A longitudinal growth mixture model of child disclosure to parents across adolescence. Journal of Family Psychology, 32(4), 475–483. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000369

51.

Pakpahan

Hoffmann

Kröger

(2017). Statistical methods for causal analysis in life course research: An illustration of a cross-lagged structural equation model, a latent growth model, and an autoregressive latent trajectories model. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 20(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2015.1091641

52.

Patterson

G. R.

Forgatch

M. S.

DeGarmo

D. S.

(2010). Cascading effects following intervention. Development and Psychopathology, 22(4), 949–970. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579410000568

53.

Pepler

Jiang

Craig

Connolly

(2008). Developmental trajectories of bullying and associated factors. Child Development, 79(2), 325–338. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01128.x

54.

Schafer

J. L.

Graham

J. W.

(2002). Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 7(2), 147–177.

55.

Sieving

R. E.

McRee

McMorris

B. J.

Schlaffer

R. J.

Gower

A. L.

Kappa

H. M.

Beckman

K. J.

Doty

J. L.

Plowman

S. L.

Resnick

M. D.

(2017). Youth-adult connectedness: A key protective factor for adolescent health. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 52(3), S275–S278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2016.07.037

56.

Son

Padilla-Walker

L. M.

(2019). Whereabouts and secrets: A person-centered approach to emerging adults’ routine and self-disclosure to parents. Emerging Adulthood. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696819842718

57.

Sroufe

L. A.

(2005). Attachment and development: A prospective, longitudinal study from birth to adulthood. Attachment & Human Development, 7(4), 349–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730500365928

58.

Stattin

Kerr

(2000). Parental monitoring: A reinterpretation. Child Development, 71(4), 1072–1085. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00210

59.

Stavrinides

Nikiforou

Georgiou

(2015). Do mothers know? longitudinal associations between parental knowledge, bullying, and victimization. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 32(2), 180–196. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407514525889

60.

Svedberg

Nygren

J. M.

Staland-Nyman

Nyholm

(2016). The validity of socioeconomic status measures among adolescents based on self-reported information about parents occupations, FAS and perceived SES; implication for health related quality of life studies. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 16(1), Article 48.

61.

Tanner

J. L.

(2006). Recentering during emerging adulthood: A critical turning point in life span human development. In Arnett

J. J.

Tanner

J. L.

(Eds.), Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st century (pp. 21–55). American Psychological Association.

62.

Tilton-Weaver

Kerr

Pakalniskeine

Tokic

Salihovic

Stattin

(2010). Open up or close down: How do parental reactions affect youth information management? Journal of Adolescence, 33(2), 333–346. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2009.07.011

63.

Ttofi

M. M.

Farrington

D. P.

(2011). Effectiveness of school-based programs to reduce bullying: A systematic and meta-analytic review. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 7(1), 27–56.

64.

Van Ryzin

M. J.

Stormshak

E. A.

Dishion

T. J

. (2012). Engaging parents in the family check-up in middle school: Longitudinal effects on family conflict and problem behavior through the high school transition. The Journal of Adolescent Health, 50(6), 627–633. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.10.255

65.

Wertz

Nottingham

Agnew-Blais

Matthews

Pariante

C. M.

Moffitt

T. E.

Arseneault

(2016). Parental monitoring and knowledge: Testing bidirectional associations with youths’ antisocial behavior. Development and Psychopathology, 28(3), 623–638. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579416000213

66.

Willoughby

Hamza

C. A.

(2011). A longitudinal examination of the bidirectional associations among perceived parenting behaviors, adolescent disclosure and problem behavior across the high school years. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40(4), 463–478. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9567-9