Parental bonding and adolescent bullying perpetration: Examining sequential indirect effects of anxiety and anger-in

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to examine how perceived parental bonding indirectly affects bullying perpetration through adolescent psycho-emotional states. Using structural equation modeling, the authors tested a comprehensive model, wherein lack of parental caring was associated with increased adolescent anxiety and suppressed anger, which was associated with a greater risk of bullying perpetration. Data were collected from 669 middle school students (458 males, 211 females) in the southeastern region of South Korea. Participants completed the Korean versions of the Parental Bonding Inventory, Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale, and State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, as well as, the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire. Results demonstrated that parental bonding was negatively associated with adolescent anxiety; adolescent anxiety was positively related to adolescent anger-in; and adolescent anger-in was positively associated with bullying perpetration. Neither adolescent anxiety nor anger-in directly linked the relationship between parental bonding and bullying perpetration. However, the results partially supported the hypothesized model in that maternal parental bonding indirectly influenced bullying perpetration through adolescent anxiety and subsequently through anger-in. Together, the present findings illuminate a potential underlying mechanism that adolescent psycho-emotional states bridge parental bonding and bullying behaviors. Interventions designed to build quality parent-child relationships and emotion regulation strategies may reduce bullying perpetration particularly among adolescents who developed poor bonds with their mothers.