A cross-sectional analysis of bullying and stealing behaviors in a nation-wide sample of early adolescents

The purpose of this research is to characterize adolescent antisocial behaviors (AAB) by testing two hypotheses. The first postulates that ineffective parenting leads to a breakdown in children's social environments and increases rebelliousness which can lead to AAB. The second postulates that a bi-directional interaction exists between AAB and having been victim to bullying. AAB consist of engaging in activities such as bullying; starting rumors and spreading lies; and stealing. This is a cross-sectional study consisting of 1036 parent/child pairs who are eligible for the study by having an oldest child aged 10-13 at the time of screening. Lack of parental monitoring and adolescent alienation are observed to be associated with AAB after controlling for demographics and other parenting measures. Parents who know a lot about their children's whereabouts and activities are less likely to have children with AAB. Among those who do not know a lot about their children's whereabouts and activities, a dose-response effect is observed in the parents' effort to try to know. AAB is higher among adolescents who feel alienated from their parents as compared to those who feel accepted by their parents. Closeness to mother/father and limit-setting are not statistically significant after controlling for demographic factors and other parenting measures. Poor family dynamics appear to mediate the association between parental monitoring and AAB, and rebelliousness appears to mediate the association between parental monitoring and adolescent alienation with AAB. Adolescents who engaged in AAB have increase odds of being victims of bullying.; The evidence put forth in this study has implications for the design of preventive intervention targeting parental monitoring and adolescent alienation in at-risk populations. Adolescents who have been victimized by bullies, have poor family dynamics, or who are rebellious are at risk for AAB. A key direction for future research involves conducting longitudinal studies in which the factors examined here are assessed over time in order to observe the progression of parenting, social, and individual factors that may be involved in the increase of AAB. This can help provide further insight into the temporal sequence of events.