Bullies and delinquents: personal characteristics and parental styles

This research aimed to analyse the personal characteristics and parental styles of bullies and delinquents, and to establish which factors were related to the bully/delinquent group and which were related to only bullies or only delinquents. A self‐report questionnaire on bullying and delinquency was completed by 113 girls and 125 boys aged 11–14 in a middle school in Rome. Bullying and delinquency were more common among boys than among girls. Bullying did not vary significantly with age, but delinquency increased with age. Bullying and delinquency were especially related for boys and for older students. Only bullies were younger, while only delinquents were older, suggesting that bullying might be an early stage on a developmental sequence leading to delinquency. Only bullies and only delinquents had different parenting correlates; only bullies had authoritarian parents and disagreed with their parents, whereas only delinquents had conflictual and low supportive parents. This suggested that bullying and delinquency are not merely different behavioural manifestations of the same underlying construct. Parent training interventions might prevent both bullying and delinquency. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new typology of fathering: defining and associated variables

Our goal was to identify different types of parenting based on self‐report measures of fathers' involvement and parental attitudes. The present investigation studied 468 two‐parent, French Canadian families with at least one child between 0 and 6 years of age, living in a disadvantaged environment. The study, conducted on a sample of fathers, revealed the presence of the three basic types of parenting identified by Baumrind (authoritarian, authoritative and permissive), and also of a new type of parenting (stimulative parenting). The fathers in this latter group provide more emotional support to children and are more stimulating, as is evidenced by the greater psychological presence of children in the father's cognitions and by the fact that they more frequently introduce their children to new activities. These fathers are characterized by more secure social relationships. The father's parental stress level was found to be the most important variable discriminating between different types of fathering. Authoritarian and authoritative fathers are more at risk of maltreating their children because their more favourable attitude towards the use of physical punishment is combined with greater parental stress, less parental involvement of mothers, and a larger number of children in the home. Authoritarian fathers are even more at risk of maltreating their children because of more difficult family socioeconomic conditions, particularly lower levels of maternal education and income. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Maternal aggression in rats: Changes over pregnancy and lactation in a sprague-dawley strain

Maternal aggression in a Sprague-Dawley strain of laboratory rat (Charles River CD) was explored from Day 1 after mating on Day 0 through Day 24 of lactation (L0-L24). Aggression toward unfamiliar male “intruders” during 10-min tests was low among nonpregnant, nonlactating females and during the first 10 days of gestation. Frequency of attack on intruders increased moderately but significantly by Gestation Day 16 (G16; Experiment 1) or G21 (Experiment 2), a prepartum phenomenon not previously reported in laboratory rats. Levels of aggression were highest, however, during the first 9 days of lactation, when attacks averaged more than 6 per 10-min session. Attacks declined sharply in frequency after L14 and by L24 did not exceed levels observed among nonpregnant females. Experiment 3 examined the importance of the test site (home cage with nest and pups, if any, vs unfamiliar cage without nest or pups) to agonistic behavior associated with pregnancy and lactation. Late pregnant females tested in a novel cage were not aggressive; however, females tested shortly after delivering their pups were highly aggressive, averaging over four attacks per 5-min session. In novel cage tests frequency of attack remained high through L4 but declined significantly by L7. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that maternal aggression at its onset is primarily under hormonal control, but becomes increasingly dependent upon external factors, presumably pup stimulation, during the postpartum period.     

原生家庭父母冲突、 夫妻冲突解决模式与婚姻质量的关系:基于主客体互倚模型的分析

采用问卷调查法,对263对夫妻的原生家庭父母冲突、 夫妻冲突解决模式和婚姻质量进行测量.结果表明,(1)个体的原生家庭父母冲突与自身以及配偶的婚姻质量呈显著负相关;(2)丈夫的原生家庭冲突可以预测自身以及妻子的冲突解决模式,妻子的原生家庭冲突可预测丈夫的冲突解决模式;(3)丈夫夫妻冲突解决模式在双方原生家庭父母冲突对自...     

Can We Uncouple Neighborhood Disadvantage and Delinquent Behaviors? An Experimental Test of Family Resilience Guided by the Social Disorganization Theory of Delinquent Behaviors

Although the influence of neighborhood disadvantage on youth development of delinquent behavior is well established, findings from this research have yet to inform the development of family-centered prevention programming to protect youth from these erosive effects. The current paper examines the role of family integration in buffering the impact of social disadvantage in a sample of N = 298 families randomly assigned either to a control condition or to a family-based prevention program previously shown to enhance marriage and parenting. We first confirmed that neighborhood concentrated disadvantage predicted change in delinquent behaviors across the course of the study. Additionally, replicating prior work, parents participating in the Protecting Strong African American Families (ProSAAF) program, relative to those randomly assigned to the control group, significantly improved their use of effective communication strategies with each other and reduced ineffective conflict in front of youth. This resulted in a significant indirect effect of ProSAAF on change in youth delinquent behaviors. Furthermore, using mediated moderation analysis, the study tested the buffering effect of greater family integration, showing that experimentally produced change in interparental communication skills and the resulting reduction in youth exposure to parental conflict buffered the effect of neighborhood disadvantage on change in youth delinquent behaviors, supporting a mediated moderation model in which family environments buffer neighborhood effects.     

父母冲突与中学生应对方式的关系:教养方式和情绪安全感的链式中介作用

为了探讨父母冲突、父母教养方式、情绪安全感和应对方式的关系,研究采用量表对北京市和河南省1322名初一到高二的学生进行调查。结果表明：父母冲突直接影响中学生的应对方式,且存在三条路径：通过父母教养方式的单独中介作用影响中学生的积极应对方式和父母消极教养方式的单独中介作用影响中学生的消极应对方式;通过情绪不安全感的单独中介作用影响中学生的应对方式;通过父母消极教养方式和情绪不安全感的链式中介作用影响中学生的应对方式。因此减少和避免父母冲突,提高中学生的情绪安全感,同时给予中学生积极教养方式,减少和避免消极教养方式,有利于中学生积极应对方式的发展。     

父母教养方式对中职生亲社会行为的影响:两类共情的中介作用

探讨父母教养方式对中职生亲社会行为的影响,分别采用问卷法和实验法检验特质共情与状态共情 在这个影响过程中的中介效应。 结果发现:(1)情感温暖、信任鼓励型的父母教养方式对中职生亲社会行为有正向预测作用; 专制、溺爱型父母教养方式对中职生亲社会行为起负向预测作用。(2)特质共情在情感温暖型、信任鼓励型父母教养方式与中职生亲社会行为之间起部分中介作用。(3)经试验操纵的状态共情的中介效应与特质共情的中介效应同样显著。结论:积极的父母教养方式通过影响中职生的共情进而影响其亲社会行为。     

家长投入对子女学业成绩的影响：有调节的中介模型

本研究测评了广州市1628名六年级学生的学习投入和学业成绩,并调查了其家长的家长投入和教养风格。结果发现：（1）家长投入能正向预测子女的学业成绩;（2）在家长投入与子女学业成绩的关系之间,子女的学习投入起完全中介作用;（3）家长教养风格对家长投入与子女学习投入的关系路径起调节作用,积极的教养风格有利于促进家长投入对子女学习投入的正向影响。结果表明：积极的家长教养风格能促进家长投入转化为子女的学习投入,进而促使子女学业成绩的提升。     

Moderating the bullying perpetration–delinquency relationship with parental support and knowledge: A prospective analysis of middle school students

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether parental support and knowledge moderate the relationship between bullying perpetration and delinquency. A sample of 305 middle school students (141 boys, 164 girls; 10–12 years of age) served as participants in this study. The research hypothesis predicted that parental support and knowledge would moderate the prospective bullying–delinquency relationship. Testing this hypothesis with least squares regression parametric coefficients and percentile bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals, parental support received full support and parental knowledge no support as factors potentially capable of reducing risk for future delinquency by interacting with prior bullying perpetration. Whereas parental support decreased the odds of high bullying boys engaging in future delinquency—an outcome consistent with the view that parenting can serve a protective function against future offending by neutralizing the risk effect of bullying—parental knowledge failed to reduce future delinquency in children who bullied, although it did have a direct ameliorative effect on future delinquency. The protective effect was strongest when parental support was high and parental knowledge low, whereas the risk effect was strongest when parental support was low and parental knowledge was medium to high. These results suggest that protective and risk effects are limited to certain combinations of protective and risk factors.     

Working with parents to counteract bullying: A randomized controlled trial of an intervention to improve parent-school cooperation

This study examined the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at improving parent-school cooperation in counteracting bullying. Using a randomized controlled trial, data of teachers, parents of non-victimized children, and children themselves were collected at 13 intervention and 14 control schools (grades 3–6, N at post-assessment: teachers = 83, parents = 153, children = 2,510) at two time points (time lag about 6 months). Results showed positive effects of the intervention for some aspects of the primary outcomes: parents’ and teachers’ attitudes and efforts, whereas no effects were found of teachers’ or parents’ competences in counteracting bullying. No intervention effects were found for secondary outcomes: children's self-reported bullying, victimization, well-being, and self-esteem. The findings indicate that, due to the intervention, teachers and parents were more aligned and able to cooperate, even within the short time of the intervention: one school year. This is the first essential step to systematically addressing parents’ role in tackling bullying; future research is needed to examine the long-term effects of parent and school interventions in enhancing the effectiveness of anti-bullying programs.