K. Rigby, SCHOOL CHILDRENS PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR FAMILIES AND PARENTS AS A FUNCTION OF PEER RELATIONS, The Journal of genetic psychology, 154(4), 1993, pp. 501-513
Links were examined between three dimensions of peer relating at schoo
l among Australian children and selected family and parental backgroun
d factors. Questionnaires containing measures of children's tendencies
to bully others, to be victimized, and to act in a prosocial manner w
ere administered to boys and girls (N = 1,012) aged 11 to 16 years. In
addition, subjects completed a standardized 42-item measure of family
functioning and reliable scales assessing attitudes toward, and relat
ionships with, their mother and father. When differences in age were c
ontrolled for, multiple regression results for both boys and girls ind
icated that the tendency to bully peers and the tendency to act prosoc
ially were independently predictive of family functioning and attitude
s toward, and relationships with, each parent, negatively for bullying
and positively for prosocial behavior. The tendency to be victimized
by peers at school among girls was found to be associated with poorer
family functioning and more negative attitudes toward mothers; negativ
e relations with absent fathers in single-parent families characterize
d boys who reported being victimized at school.