PARENTAL MONITORING AS A CORRELATE OF STUDENTS’ BULLYING PERPETRATION AND VICTIMIZATION IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

Bullying in schools continues to pose a serious risk to students’ well-being and academic achievement, with increasing emphasis being placed on family influences especially parental monitoring as a key factor in reducing such behaviours. This study investigated parental monitoring as a correlate of students’ bullying perpetration and victimization in public secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. A correlational research design was adopted to examine the relationships among the variables. The study was guided by four research questions and four null hypotheses. The population of the study was 22,403 Senior Secondary Two (SS2) students in government-owned secondary schools across Awka and Onitsha Education Zones. A sample of 1,120 SS2 students was used for the study and was estimated through multi stage sampling procedure. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire composed of three sections. The section on bullying and victimization included adapted items from the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ). Parental monitoring was measured using also adapted Revised Parental Monitoring Short Scale (PMSS) developed by Swaim and Stanley (2022). The questionnaire also included a socio-demographic section developed by the researcher. Validity of the instrument was established by three experts in Educational Psychology and Measurement and Evaluation. Reliability was assessed through a pilot study, yielding Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients of 0.79 for bullying perpetration, 0.80 for victimization, and 0.80 for parental monitoring, indicating acceptable internal consistency. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and multiple regressions were used to answer the research questions and test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings among others showed a strong negative correlation between parental monitoring and students’ victimization, and a negative correlation between parental monitoring and bullying perpetration. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that parents should be educated on bullying and monitoring strategies through school-based forums such as PTA meetings to reduce bullying behaviours and support victims.