NCJ Number
221962
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 18 Issue: 6 Dated: June 2003 Pages: 634-644
Date Published
June 2003
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Based on data from 1,147 British adolescents, ages 14-18, this study examined whether the level of a father's involvement in an adolescent's activities, interests, and concerns was related to the adolescent's engagement in bullying behavior.
Abstract
The study found that both the involvement of the father and the involvement of the mother in an adolescent's life were independently and significantly associated with less bullying behavior in adolescence. There was no evidence that an adolescent's gender was related to variations in this association. The inverse relationship between a father's involvement in his child's life and the child's bullying behavior was not weakened by divorce compared to an intact marriage. The father's involvement gained more importance when the mother had low involvement in the adolescent's life. The findings bring no claim of causality, since bullying behavior by a child may precede rather than follow low parental involvement in the child's life. Still, the findings suggest that family intervention to improve positive parent-child interactions may reduce a child's bullying behavior. Data for this study came from a confidential questionnaire that solicited the views and experiences of 1,147 adolescents in the United Kingdom. A total of 493 boys and 652 girls participated in the study. Bullying behavior was assessed with a four-item, five-point scale. Father involvement was assessed with a four-item, three-point scale that measured perceived father involvement in various activities described in questions. The same questions were asked about the mother or a mother figure. 1 table, 1 figure, and 33 references