The Relationship Between Parental Attitudes, Basic Psychological Needs, and Bullying Status in High School Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between parental attitudes and basic psychological needs, and bullying and victimization among high school students. Furthermore, it focuses on whether the distribution of the status of bullying differs according to gender and experiences of domestic violence. The study group comprises 697 Turkish high school students and the data collection tools used are the Peer Bullying Scale Adolescent Form, Parents’ Attitude Scale, Basic Psychological Needs Scale, and Personal Information Form. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the associations of parental attitudes and basic psychological needs with bullying status. Results indicate that all sub-factors of parental attitude and the sub-factor of relatedness regarding basic psychological needs are associated with bullying at a statistically significant level, whereas the sub-factors of autonomy and competence regarding basic psychological needs are not associated with bullying at a statistically significant level. The sub-factor of involvement regarding parental attitude decreases the possibility of being a bully or a bully/victim, the sub-factor of psychological autonomy decreases the possibility of being a victim or a bully/victim, and the sub-factor of control decreases the possibility of being a bully/victim, whereas the sub-factor of satisfaction of the need for relationships decreases the possibility of being a victim or a bully/victim. The study results show that 70.7% of students were involved in peer victimization. The distribution of the status of bullying also differs according to gender and experiences of domestic violence at a statistically significant level. The study findings are discussed in light of the literature and some suggestions are offered.