Bullying perpetration and perceptions of familial acceptance of aggression among young people at university

Bullying among young people at university is less well researched than bullying among school students or bullying occurring in the workplace. Even less is known about perpetrators, that is, those who bully their peers in the university student population. It has been shown that parents play a formative role in shaping the attitudes of young adults, however, there is scant research in relation to bullying perpetration among university students. Therefore, some of the known family factors related to bully perpetrators among school-aged children were applied to emerging adults to examine the consistencies and inconsistencies. One hundred and ninety-eight first-year university students were surveyed about their perception of their parents’ aggressive behavior and their self-reported bullying involvement in the previous 12 months. Family composition and self-reported involvement in sibling bullying were also examined. Odds ratios and a logistic regression were used to test the hypotheses. The results showed that students who perceived their parents to be more accepting of aggression were more likely to have perpetrated bullying in the preceding 12 months. However, family composition and bullying of siblings did not increase the likelihood of involvement in bullying perpetration. The current study lends support to the concept that perceived parent attitudes play a more proximal role in shaping bullying behavior among university students than has been previously assumed. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of prevention and intervention efforts for university students, as well as the lasting effects that these findings imply for school- aged children