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Peer Victimization and Parental Psychological Control in Adolescence

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Abstract

With a sample of 831 U.S. adolescents (49% girls) followed from 9th to 11th grade, the directionality of the association between school-based peer victimization and adolescents’ perception of their parents’ psychological control were examined. Possible mediating influences of internalizing symptoms were also explored. The results highlight the relevance of adolescent-to-parent influences during adolescence by demonstrating that physical peer victimization was predictive of increases in mother’s psychological control but parental psychological control did not predict subsequent peer victimization. These direct effects were present above and beyond the contribution of adolescent internalizing symptoms to higher parental psychological control. Practical implications of the primacy of adolescent-to-parent influences in predicting the social adjustment of victims of peer harassment are discussed.

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  1. Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin Madison, Rm 863L, Educational Sciences Building, 1025 West Johnson Street, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Ting-Lan Ma & Amy Bellmore

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  1. Ting-Lan Ma
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  2. Amy Bellmore
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Correspondence to Ting-Lan Ma.

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Ma, TL., Bellmore, A. Peer Victimization and Parental Psychological Control in Adolescence. J Abnorm Child Psychol 40, 413–424 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-011-9576-5

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