Parental Figures As Protective? Associations between Cyberbullying Victimization, Connectedness, and Online Monitoring

Introduction: Caring parent-child relationships and parental monitoring are negatively related to cyberbullying. Few studies examine parent-child connectedness and monitoring concurrently with respect to cyberbullying. To inform prevention efforts, we examined concurrent associations between cyberbullying victimization and these protective factors. We hypothesized that connectedness with a parental figure and both general and online monitoring would be negatively related to cyberbullying victimization. We explored gender as a moderator to understand differential effects of gender with respect to cyberbullying.

Method: Data were from the second wave of a longitudinal, middle school-based study. Sixth graders were recruited from three schools in a Midwest metropolitan area (N = 570). Participants identified as 48.7% female; 1.9% reported being American Indian, 13.7% Asian, 20.2% Black, 20.4% Latino, 22.7% White, and 21.1% multiracial; 65.7% received free/reduced-price lunch. Cyberbullying victimization was measured by asking, “During the last 30 days, how often have you been bullied online through social media, email, texting, websites, video games, photos/videos, or instant messaging?” Responses were coded as never/ever reporting victimization. Parental connectedness was measured by a 3-item scale; e.g. “In my home, there is a parent or some other adult who talks to me about my problems” (1=not at all true; 4=very true; α=.73). Two items measured general and online parental monitoring, respectively: “In my home, there is a parent or some other adult who asks me about what I do in my free time” and “…who asks me about things I do online” (1=not at all true; 4=very true). Controls included gender, race/ethnicity, family structure, and free/reduced-price lunch. Logistic regression models of cyberbullying victimization were estimated, using a clustering adjustment. Effect modification by gender was tested for relationships between parent connectedness, monitoring, and cyberbullying victimization.

Results: Students who felt connected to a parental figure were less likely to report cyberbullying victimization (OR=0.70, SE=0.12, p<.05), and the effect of parental online monitoring was marginally significant (OR=0.94, SE=0.03, p<.10). General monitoring was not significant. Gender moderated relationships between parental connectedness and cyberbullying victimization (OR=1.34, SE=0.05, p<.001) and between online monitoring and cyberbullying victimization (OR=1.24, SE=.11, p<.05). The protective effects of connectedness and online monitoring on victimization were stronger for girls than boys.

Conclusions: Prevention of cyberbullying victimization should focus on strengthening parent-child connectedness. Online monitoring and connectedness may be particularly important to prevent online peer victimization among girls.