Relaciones entre la comunicación familiar y los diferentes roles de agresor-víctima en la violencia escolar

Resum

It has been found that students can get involved in different roles in bullying, and sometimes there is a coexistence of aggression and victimization. The quality of communication with the father and mother could be a variable related to these different roles. Objective. The objective is to analyze possible differences in communication with parents, differentiating between communication with the father and mother, among five groups established according to their level of violence and victimization to peers (“not involved”, “frequent victims”, “occasional victims and aggressors”, “frequent aggressors” and “frequent victims and aggressors”). Method. The sample was composed by 983 adolescents (50.7% boys and 49.3% girls) aged 12 to 19 years old, who answered the Aggressive Behavior Scale of Little, Henrich, Jones, & Hawley (2003), Parent-Adolescents Communication Scale of Barnes & Olson (1985) and Peer Victimization Scale of Cava, Murgui, & Musitu (2007). Results. The adolescents not involved show more open communication with father and mother than other adolescents. In relation to problem communication with parents, the adolescents not involved and occasional aggressors/victims show less communication problems with father and mother than other roles involved in violence and victimization to peers. Conclusions. The communication problems with both parents are related to the frequency of violence and victimization among peers, and positive and fluent communication with both parents seem protect adolescents to engage in these behaviors. So, educational projects focused on improving communication with both parents should be created.