Attachment and Being in Bullying System: Mediational Role of Coping Strategies

Abstract

The objective of this study is to determine whether the parental attachment style of the adolescent plays a role in his/her exposure to bullying or being its perpetrator and to explicate the intermediary role of the coping strategies in this relation. As the sampling group for this study, 410 students, 197 girls and 213 boys, have been chosen from the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th grades in three private and two general elementary and high schools in Istanbul. In this study "Peer Victimization Scale", "Peer Bullying Scale", "Parental Attachment Scale" and "Coping Strategies Scale" were utilized to gather data. The results of the analysis indicate that the parental attachment security reasonably predicts the role of the subject (a victim or a bully) for male adolescents in the bullying system. Moreover, it has also been observed that the avoidance strategy among the stress coping strategies plays an intermediary role in the relationship between parental attachment security and exposure to bullying in male adolescents. In other words it strengthens the said relationship. Findings are discussed within the framework of the related literature.