Abstract
We aimed to investigate the relationship between homophobic bullying, parental psychological control and sensation seeking among adolescents and young adults and to examine the mediating role of sensation seeking. The participants included 394 adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 20 years attending the 3rd, 4th and 5th years of two public high schools in Italian cities. Participants completed the Homophobic Bullying Scale, the Dependency—oriented and Achievement—oriented Parental Psychological Control, and the Sensation—Seeking Scale. The results showed that parental psychological control predicted bullying toward gay and lesbian people. However, the two dimensions of sensation seeking (thrill and adventure seeking, and disinhibition) represented two mediators in the relationship between parental psychological control, both achievement and dependency—oriented, and homophobic bullying.
Highlights
Homophobic bullying has its roots in homophobia and attacks those who do not adhere to the society—imposed canons of masculinity and femininity
The current study aimed to explore within a sample of adolescents and young adults how parental control is related to the genesis of homophobic bullying and, subsequently, the role of sensation seeking in that relationship
The first structural equation model demonstrated that the association among the two dimensions of parental psychological control and homophobic bullying toward gay and lesbian had a good fit to the data (CFI = 1.00; RMSEA < 0.0001; χ2(14) = 217.36; p < 0.0001)
Summary
The absence of satisfactory parental relationships and a dysfunctional parent—child relationship style can be strong risk factors related to bullying (Labella and Masten 2018; Wahl and Metzner 2012) In this sense, the absence of affective parental responses can lead individuals to develop a sense of frustration which could translate into aggression and bullying acts. Studies in the literature generally agree that the two forms of parental control, achievement—oriented and dependency—oriented, represent risk factors in adolescents’ social development because —by affecting the socio-emotional sphere—they can lead to maladaptive responses such as addictive behavior and peer aggression in school contexts (Cui et al 2014; Mabbe et al 2016; Pace et al 2018a; Pace et al 2019; Soenens et al 2008; Soenens and Vansteenkiste 2010)
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