Parenting in the Context of Peer Victimization: Adolescent Behavioral Moderators

Parents may be expected to respond to adolescent peer victimization with more warmth, yet paradoxically, research suggests that victimization predicts negative parenting and parent-adolescent relationships. Using a multi-informant, longitudinal design, we tested whether adolescent externalizing and internalizing problems moderate prospective associations between peer victimization and parenting. Adolescents ( N = 80, M age = 12.36 years, 55% African American, 42.5% European American, 45% female) reported on parental warmth, and parents reported on their perceptions of adolescent peer victimization experiences, adolescent externalizing and internalizing behaviors, and parent-adolescent relationship quality. Results revealed that parents’ perceptions of peer victimization predicted lower parental warmth and parent-adolescent relationship quality when parents also perceived higher externalizing problems or lower internalizing problems. Findings suggest that parents should differentiate peer victimization experiences from behavioral difficulties to ensure that adolescents receive the parental support they need.