Stress, competence, and parental educational styles in victims and aggressors of bullying and cyberbullying.

Abstract

The family can be a protective/risk factor for violence. The study analyzes differences in family variables (parental stress, parental competence and parenting styles) among severe student victims, aggressors, cybervictims, and cyberaggressors (who have very frequently suffered or carried out bullying/cyberbullying behaviors in the past year) and those who have neither suffered nor carried out any aggressive behavior or only occasionally. Participants were 1,993 students in the 5th-6th grade (9-13 years old). Victims and aggressors of bullying had parents with higher levels of parental stress, who used more authoritarian educational styles (low affection, coercive discipline, high control), and more permissive practices (high affection/overprotection, low demand/control); parents of aggressors also had a lower level of parental competence. Cybervictims had parents with higher parental stress who used more permissive educational styles. Cyberaggressors had parents with a low level of parental competence. The family context is relevant for bullying/cyberbullying, but family variables have more influence on bullying than on cyberbullying.