Parents' attitudes, perceptions and coping strategies regarding school bullying.

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to record parents' knowledge and attitudes towards bullying experienced by their children and to explore the strategies they choose to manage bullying incidents.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. The study population consisted of parents of children who have experienced bullying in a primary or secondary school classroom. The "Parents' Strategies to Cope with Bullying" questionnaire was used to collect data. Regarding parents' coping with bullying, the strategy "Support and advice to the child" scored the highest and the strategy "Social support and information" the next highest.

Results: Of the parents, 44.3 % had received some information/education regarding the phenomenon of bullying with the most important source of information being reading. According to the results of multivariate linear regression, mothers more often applied the strategy "social support and information" (Coefficient b=0.9, 95 % CI for b=0.7 to 1.1, p<0.001) and parents with lower educational level more often applied the strategy "avoidance" (Coefficient b=-0.5, 95 % CI for b=-0.8 to -0.2, p=0.004).

Conclusions: School bullying remains a major worldwide phenomenon over time. Although parents choose to support their children, they do not receive information and training on how to manage bullying from a formal institution, making the need for such programs imperative.