Parenting in the digital era: Protective and risk parenting styles for traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimization

Abstract This study analyzes the parenting styles that could act as risk or protective factors for bullying and cyberbullying victimization in Spain, considering the predisposition to aggression of the adolescents. The protective or risk effect of parenting styles for adolescents' related behavior such as antisocial behavior, school adjustment, and self-esteem was also analyzed. Study sample was 1109 adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years (49.96%, females, M = 13.88, SD = 1.38). A 4 × 2 × 2 × 2 MANOVA was applied for the outcome variables of bullying victimization (traditional bullying and cyberbullying), antisocial behavior, school adjustment, and self-esteem; with parenting style, predisposition to aggression, sex and age as independent variables. The results confirm and extend emergent research in parenting styles, carried out in Spain and other European and Latin-American countries, showing that indulgent parenting, characterized by the use of reasoning and warmth practices, can act as a protective factor for both traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimization. On the contrary, authoritarian parenting, characterized by the use of physical and verbal coercion and privation practices, would act as a risk factor for cyberbullying and traditional bullying victimization. The protective and risk effects of parenting styles over adolescents' adjustment take place irrespective of the adolescents' predisposition to aggression.