Attachment to parents and peers as predictors of bullying in adolescents

Pages: 858-862
Sujata Bhau and Suninder Tung (Department of Psychology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab)

Bullying is one of the important issues faced by adolescents worldwide. Attachment theory provides an explanation to study such externalizing behaviors among adolescents and to explore the role of attachment in the development of bullying behavior. Along with mother and father attachment, peer attachment during adolescence becomes more important since the object of attachment expands to individuals beyond family. Based on this theoretical foundation, the present study was conducted to assess the relationship between bullying, mother attachment, father attachment and peer attachment. The sample comprised of 614 adolescents of age 12-18 years drawn from various schools of Jammu, J & K. The required data was collected using Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987) and Illinois Bully Scale (Espelage & Holt, 2001). The data was analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Multiple Regression Analyses. It was found that mother attachment and peer attachment were significantly negatively correlated with bullying perpetration. Multiple regression analyses reveal that mother attachment and peer attachment significantly negatively predict bullying perpetration among adolescents. The results are discussed in the light of theoretical rationale.