Parenting Style, Peer Groups, and Pro-Bullying Behavior of Junior High School Students

Abstract

To explore both the relationship between parenting style and the pro-bullying behavior of junior high school students and the roles of peer relationship and deviant peer interaction in that relationship. The parenting style questionnaire, peer relationship questionnaire, deviant peer interaction questionnaire, and pro-bullying behavior questionnaire were used to survey 886 junior high school students in China. A SPSS statistical package (26.0) was used for data analysis. Parenting style, peer relationship, deviant peer interaction, and pro-bullying behavior were all significantly correlated. Peer relationship and deviant peer interaction played complete mediating roles respectively between parenting style and pro-bullying behavior. Peer relationship and deviant peer interaction played a chain-type mediating role between style and pro-bullying behavior. Parenting style is an important parenting factor in pro-bullying behavior, indirectly affecting junior high school students’ pro-bullying behavior by influencing their peer relationship and deviant peer interaction.