Children exposed to negative parenting, ranging from abuse to overprotective parenting, face an increased risk of being bullied or becoming bullies, new research is showing.

A study out of the University of Warwick in Coventry, U.K., published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect, found that “negative or harsh” parenting was linked to a moderate increase in the risk of, simultaneously, being both a bully and a victim of bullying and a small increase in the risk of being solely a victim.

In contrast, the research found that warm but firm parenting reduced the risk of being teased, ignored or harrassed by peers.

“People often assume bullying is a problem for schools alone, but it’s clear from this study that parents also have a very important role to play,” says lead author Professor Dieter Wolke, who analyzed 70 related studies on bullying involving more than 200,00 children. “A lot of this starts right home . . . we should therefore target intervention programs not just in schools but also in families.”

Wolke says there should be the obvious strong parent-child communication, parent involvement, warmth and affection but, most importantly, there should be authority in the home.

“Parenting that includes clear rules about behaviour while being supportive and emotionally warm is most likely to prevent victimization,” he says. “(Children) need guidance, they need boundaries, they need to know the difference between right and wrong.”

Wolke says one of the more interesting facets of the study was the phenomenon of “overprotecting” and the dynamic it can create in the lives of youngsters.

“Children need support, but some parents try to buffer (them) from all negative experiences,” he says. “In the process, they prevent their children from learning ways of dealing with bullies making them more vulnerable.”

He says it could be that children with overprotective parents may not develop qualities such as autonomy and assertion and therefore may be easy targets. The flip side is that the parents of victims may simply become overprotective of their kids in reaction to the reality of what happens on the playground.

He adds that parents must stand aside, allow their children to experience life — conflicts and all — so that they can learn how to deal with all the difficult issues they will be face later in life.

He says research has confirmed that victims and children who bully but are also themselves victims, are more likely to develop physical health problems, suffer from anxiety and depression and are also at the increased risk of self-harm and suicide.

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