“But There’s Only So Much You Can Do…” Parent Support-Giving within the Context of Peer Victimization

Abstract

Little is known regarding the processes that occur when parents support their child who is being victimized by peers. The current study utilized in-depth interviews with 11 fourth- through sixth-grade early adolescents and their mothers as to the processes that occurred when the mothers attempted to help their child cope with peer victimization. Findings indicated a support-giving process that often started after initial disclosure of the victimization and continued for months or even years. Mothers’ responses included teaching their child how to respond to peer victimization, actively intervening, and enacting compensatory behaviors. Dyads reported individual and joint evaluation of the effectiveness of responses, and participants emphasized the role of communication for effective coping. A conceptual framework is presented to help generate novel lines of inquiry into the processes that occur when parents assist their peer-victimized adolescent and examine the applicability of the findings to more diverse samples and family climates.