Citation

Healy KL, Sanders MR. Child Psychiatry Hum. Dev. 2018; 49(5): 800-813.

Affiliation

Parenting and Family Support Centre, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10578-018-0793-9

PMID

29473091

Abstract

This study investigated how supportive relationships with peers and parents protect children against ongoing victimization, internalizing problems and depression. The longitudinal data set tracked progress of 111 children recruited for the trial of Resilience Triple P, and previously bullied by peers. Informants included children, parents and teachers. Higher levels of facilitative parenting (warm parenting that supports peer relationships) and peer acceptance predicted lower later levels of both depression and victimization over time. Higher levels of child friendedness predicted lower levels of child reports of internalizing problems. Children's friendships, acceptance by same sex peers and facilitative parenting all played moderating roles in protecting against ongoing victimization and internalizing problems. Peer acceptance mediated the relationships between facilitative parenting and victimization. Facilitative parenting mediated the relationship between peer acceptance and depression. It was concluded that supportive relationships with parents and peers play important and complementary roles in protecting children against ongoing victimization and depression.

Language: en

Keywords

Child depression; Facilitative parenting; Mediation; Peer victimization; School bullying