Parent Communication and Bullying Among Hispanic Adolescent Girls.
Ariel U Smith, Anne E Norris
PMID 30354928WHAT IT FOUND
Talking more often with Hispanic daughters about physical bullying did not reduce their self-reported victimization or perpetration.
Parents almost universally reported having these conversations, but frequency showed no association with bullying outcomes in this sample.
Key findings
01There was no association between the frequency with which parents spoke with their daughters about pushing, hitting, or shoving and whether the daughter was a perpetrator of physical bullying.
02There was no significant association between the frequency of parent communication and physical victimization.
03An acculturation gap between parent and child did not moderate the association between parent communication frequency and daughters' reported perpetration or victimization.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The parent survey only asked about communication regarding physical bullying (pushing, hitting, shoving), while daughters reported on verbal and relational bullying as well. This mismatch in content makes it difficult to detect associations. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot determine if communication influences bullying or if bullying influences communication. Parents reported near-universal communication about physical bullying, creating a ceiling effect that limited the variability available for analysis. The sample was predominantly Cuban-American and low-income in South Florida, which may not generalize to other Hispanic populations. All data were self-reported, raising concerns about social desirability bias and recall errors.
Declared interests
The study was approved by the University of Miami Institution Review Board. No specific funding sources or conflicts of interest declarations are provided in the text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that parent communication is ineffective at preventing bullying. The null finding here may result from the narrow scope of the parent survey, which only assessed communication about physical aggression, while most bullying reported by daughters was verbal or relational.