Overprotected children 'more likely to be bullied'
By Hannah Richardson
BBC News education reporter
Children who have overprotective parents are more likely to be bullied by their peers, research suggests.
A review of 70 studies looking at 200,000 children suggests
parents who "buffer" children from negative experiences make them more
vulnerable.
But children who have harsh or negative parents are most likely to be bullied, it finds.
Prof Dieter Wolke said everyone looked at schools, but his study says bullying really starts at home.
The University of Warwick-based psychology professor said he
was expecting to find that children with the harshest parents were most
likely to become prey to bullies.
But he said he was somewhat surprised to discover that
children with overprotective parents were also at an increased risk of
bullying.
'Deal with conflict'
He said: "Although parental involvement, support and high
supervision decrease the chances of children being involved in bullying,
for victims - overprotection increased this risk.
“Parenting that includes clear rules
about behaviour while being supportive and emotionally warm is most
likely to prevent victimisation” Prof Dieter Wolke
University of Warwick
"Children need support but some
parents try to buffer their children from all negative experiences. In
the process, they prevent their children from learning ways of dealing
with bullies and make them more vulnerable."
He added: "It is as if children need to have some distress so
that they know how to deal with conflict. If the parents all the time
do it for them then the children don't have any coping strategies and
are more likely targets."
Bullying was defined as repeated instances over a six-month period, rather than just one-off conflicts in the playground.
He said the research suggested bullies find dominance by
targeting the children they find to be the most vulnerable - picking
again on the ones who cry or run away after an initial attack.
So the way a child reacts to an initial instance of bullying
has repercussions for what the bullies do next. Once they have
established who to target they increase their dominance by repeatedly
victimising them.
'Clear rules'
The research, which covered a number of European countries and
the US, also found that children who were bullied by their siblings
were more likely to be victims as well.
Prof Wolke said: "Parenting that includes clear rules about
behaviour while being supportive and emotionally warm is most likely to
prevent victimisation.
"These parents allow children to have some conflicts with
peers to learn how to solve them rather than intervene at the smallest
argument."
Overall he found that 32% of children said they had been
bullied over the previous six months. Some 10 to 14% went on to be
chronic bullying victims.
The study was published in the journal of Child Abuse and Neglect.
