Parental Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Bullying Victimization in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

AbstractThe main objective of this meta-analysis was to investigate how modifiable parental factors are related to traditional and cyberbullying victimization in children and adolescents. A systematic literature search of modifiable parental factors associated with bullying victimization was conducted using PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science electronic databases. Meta-analyses were performed to assess the mean effect sizes of the associations between the broader categories of parental factors (risk and protective) and bullying victimization (traditional and cyber), as well as between specific parental factors and bullying victimization (traditional and cyber). The differential impact of maternal and paternal factors (risk and protective) was examined. Age and gender were tested as moderators. Out of the 13,171 records identified, 158 studies met the inclusion criteria. Larger evidence was found for the association between parental risk (i.e., authoritarian parenting, aversiveness, inter-parental conflict, over-involvement, permissive parenting, and withdrawal) and protective (i.e., authoritative parenting, autonomy granting, warmth, and monitoring) factors, respectively, and traditional bullying victimization, with parental warmth, aversiveness, and withdrawal being the only common related predictors for traditional and cyberbullying victimization. The effect sizes were generally small. Maternal and paternal factors showed similar patterns of association with both types of bullying victimization. Age had a moderating effect on the association between parental protective factors and cyberbullying victimization. Overall, the present findings suggest that parental factors are relevant in protecting or putting children at risk for bullying victimization, especially in the offline context.