Bullying and victimization experiences at school, the parent-child relationship and child school performance: A longitudinal investigation

Abstract

The current investigation examines longitudinal differences between bullies, victims, and bully-victims in terms of the quality of their relationship with their parents and school performance. We also investigate the longitudinal transactional association between the quality of the parent-child relationship and bullying behavior. The sample consisted of 895 mothers and their children who were participants in the NICHD Study of Early Child-Care. According to the findings, the co-occurring bully victim groups were at higher risk to experience continuous conflict with their mothers and to perform worse academically. The findings also offer support for the hypothesized transactional association between bullying and the parent-child relationship. Further, it was found that there might be a positive longitudinal transactional association between victimization and parent-child closeness. Finally, school performance was positively related to victimization. © 2010 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.