Why our Family? Parental Responses to Cyberbullying.

Abstract

Cyberbullying is a significant issue among young people both in New Zealand and internationally. To develop effective and unified prevention and intervention strategies, it is important to understand the perspectives of all parties. However, there is currently limited research on parents’ perspectives of cyberbullying. This applied research project has analysed parents’ responses to their child being cyberbullied. An anonymous, online questionnaire yielded responses to seven questions from ten participants. These qualitative responses were analysed thematically to produce overarching themes that reflect the experiences of parents
whose children have been cyberbullied. The ten participants’ responses revealed that parents have a range of emotional reactions and take a variety of actions in response to their child being cyberbullied. They also feel that multiple parties are responsible for intervening in cyberbullying. Limitations, future directions, and implications for successful home-school partnerships are discussed.