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Little is known regarding the processes that occur when parents support their child who is being victimized by peers. The current study utilized in-depth interviews with 11 fourth- through sixth-grade early adolescents and their mothers as to the processes that occurred when the mothers attempted to help their child cope with peer victimization. Findings indicated a support-giving process that often started after initial disclosure of the victimization and continued for months or even years. Mothers' responses included teaching their child how to respond to peer victimization, actively intervening, and enacting compensatory behaviors. Dyads reported individual and joint evaluation of the effectiveness of responses, and participants emphasized the role of communication for effective coping. A conceptual framework is presented to help generate novel lines of inquiry into the processes that occur when parents assist their peer-victimized adolescent and examine the applicability of the findings to more diverse samples and family climates.

Although a number of social--cognitive and contextual correlates of defending against bullying have been identified, research on the personality traits associated with defending have yielded weak and inconsistent results. The current study provided a novel examination as to whether a tendency toward social withdrawal is associated with less frequent defending and whether perceived injunctive norms for defending and aggression minimize the impact of social withdrawal on defending behaviors. A sample of 1,564 children (760 girls; M[subscript age] = 10.05; 55.0% White; 36.1% Black) were followed in the fall, winter, and spring of a school year. Defending was measured with self-reports and peer-reports. Social withdrawal was measured using teacher-reports. Perceived injunctive norms were estimated by calculating within-person correlations between participants' ratings of peers' popularity and defending and between peers' popularity and aggression. Results revealed that social withdrawal was associated with less peer-reported defending in the fall, and this effect was sustained over the school year. For boys, lower levels of social withdrawal in the fall were associated with less peer-reported defending when they viewed popular peers as unlikely to defend. A temporary (i.e., fall) association was found between viewing defenders as popular and self-reported defending, and children became less likely to self-report defending over the school year if they viewed popular children as aggressive. These findings underscore the need to examine how temperamental traits and perceived contextual norms cocontribute to bystanders' behavior when witnessing bullying.

Summary: Maternal psychological control has been linked consistently to poorer adjustment for adolescents, however, studies of variability in the association between psychological control and adjustment are rare. Sleep serves crucial bioregulatory functions that promote well‐being and protect youths against poor adjustment associated with negative family environments. We hypothesised that the link between maternal psychological control and adolescent maladjustment would be strongest for youths with poorer actigraphy‐based sleep. The current study included 245 adolescents (Mage = 15.79 years, 52.2% girls, 33.1% Black/African American and 66.9% White/European American; 43% at or below the poverty line). Adolescents reported on their mothers' psychological control toward them, as well as their internalising and externalising symptoms (aggressive and rule breaking behaviours). Several sleep variables were derived: minutes, onset time, and variability in each parameter over 1 week. For youths with shorter, less consistent sleep (both mean levels and variability in minutes and onset), maternal psychological control was associated with adjustment difficulties, especially externalising symptoms. This association was not significant for youth obtaining longer, more consistent sleep. The results were most evident for variability in sleep minutes and onset as moderators of effects. The findings suggest that longer and more consistent sleep is an important protective factor in the context of more controlling parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known regarding the processes that occur when parents support their child who is being victimized by peers. The current study utilized in-depth interviews with 11 fourth- through sixth-grade early adolescents and their mothers as to the processes that occurred when the mothers attempted to help their child cope with peer victimization. Findings indicated a support-giving process that often started after initial disclosure of the victimization and continued for months or even years. Mothers' responses included teaching their child how to respond to peer victimization, actively intervening, and enacting compensatory behaviors. Dyads reported individual and joint evaluation of the effectiveness of responses, and participants emphasized the role of communication for effective coping. A conceptual framework is presented to help generate novel lines of inquiry into the processes that occur when parents assist their peer-victimized adolescent and examine the applicability of the findings to more diverse samples and family climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress coping theories suggest that the effectiveness of coping depends on the level of stress experienced. Existing research shows that efforts to cope with high levels of peer victimization may not prevent subsequent peer victimization. Additionally, associations between coping and peer victimization often differ between boys and girls. The present study included 242 participants (51% girls; 34% Black, 65% White; Mage = 15.75 years). Adolescents reported on coping with peer stress at age 16 and on overt and relational peer victimization at ages 16 and 17. Greater use of primary control engaged coping (e.g., problem‐solving) was associated positively with overt peer victimization for boys with higher initial overt victimization. Primary control coping was also associated positively with relational victimization regardless of gender or initial relational peer victimization. Secondary control coping (e.g., cognitive distancing) was associated negatively with overt peer victimization. Secondary control coping was also associated negatively with relational victimization for boys. Greater use of disengaged coping (e.g., avoidance) was associated positively with overt and relational peer victimization for girls with higher initial victimization. Gender differences and the context and level of stress should be considered in future research and interventions related to coping with peer stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]