The Mediating Role of Social Well-Being in the Relationship between Perceived

Parenting Styles and Cyberbullying in Adolescents

Alireza Homayouni1*, Sepideh Mahmoudi2, Ghodsieh Ebrahimpour3

*
1. Assistance Professor, Department of Psychology, Bandargaz Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Bandargaz, Iran
*
Corresponding author’s Email: homayouni.ar@gmail.com
2. MA in Psychology, Department of Psychology, Bandargaz Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Bandargaz, Iran
3. Assistance Professor, Department of Psychology, Hoda Faculty of Theology and Islamic
Studies, Qom, Iran

Abstract
The purpose of this research is to investigate the mediating role of social well-being in the
relationship between perceived parenting styles and cyberbullying in adolescents. The
descriptive research method is of the correlation type based on the structural equation
modeling method. The statistical population of the research was made up of adolescent male
students of the second grade of high school, based on the sampling method in structural
equations, according to 9 apparent variables in the model and assigning a coefficient of 25,
and including incomplete questionnaires, 250 adolescents were selected as the sample, and
answered to Buri's (1991) Perceived Parenting Styles Questionnaire, Keyes' Social Well-
being Questionnaire (1998) and Patchin & Hinduja's (2011) Cyberbullying Questionnaire.
Data analysis was done with multivariate regression-based structural equation method and
SPSS 18 and Amos 24 software. The results showed that perceived parenting styles and
social well-being have a direct effect on cyberbullying. Perceived parenting styles also have
an indirect effect on cyberbullying through the mediation of social well-being. The research
model was also confirmed and in general 74% of cyberbullying of adolescents can be
explained by research variables. According to the findings of this research, familiarity with
parenting styles and social well-being and their components can reduce anti-social behaviors
such as cyber bullying in adolescents.
Keywords: perceived parenting styles, social well-being, cyberbullying, adolescents

Introduction
One of the common problems in schools is known to be the phenomenon of bullying, which
is a serious matter today and less attention is paid to this common phenomenon (Katz,
Lemish, Cohen, & Arden, 2019). Bullying is an event that occurs in the social and
communication context with other people and is done face-to-face or traditional and online or
cyber (Kumako, Leka, & Jain, 2017). In the meantime, by spreading the use of electronic
communication devices in this age group, cyber bullying has increased (Gardner &
Rasmussen, 2018). In general, in cyberbullying, in a relationship, the party with power
obviously abuses its greater power and tries to intimidate the other party with aggression
(Broll, & Reynolds, 2021). Cyberbullying is defined as a type of aggression, an intentional
act by a group or individual using electronic communication methods, repeatedly and over
time against a victim who cannot easily defend himself (Llorent et al., 2021). Cyberbullying
is done with the aim of harming the victim, which is different from non-harmful behaviors
such as bullying (Marquez, 2018). The component of being targeted, repeatable, and
incremental is a criterion for evaluating cyberbullying, which will cause a lot of
psychological and emotional damage to the victim in the long run (Katz, Lemish, Cohen, &
Arden, 2019). Bullies generally have interactions with a wide range of people in cyberspace,
because these people often perceive anonymity and unavailability as an important factor for
repeating bullying behaviors (Martínez, Murgui, García, & García, 2019).
Among the effective factors in the level of cognition and behavior of adolescents in relation
to their peers and other people, parent-child interaction or parenting styles of parents can be
mentioned (Malknia, Hashemian and Abul Maali Al-Hosseini, 2019). The relationship
between children and parents and other family members can be seen as a system or network
that interact with each other and this system affects people directly and indirectly through
different parenting methods (Kerby, 2018). Interactions between parents and children are
considered to be the basis of children's emotional development (Puckett et al., 2015).
Perceived parenting styles are a set of behaviors that determine parent-child interactions in
different situations (Closson & Boutilier, 2017), and are assumed to create a broad interaction
environment (Rinaldi & Chowe, 2011). The styles based on which parents raise their
children, such as permissive, authoritarian and decisive, will have a significant impact on the
development process of children (Berger, & McLanahan, 2015). Parenting style describes the
normal changes in parents (Jongerden, & Bögels, 2015). Each of these parenting styles
includes different educational values, practices and behaviors (Alrashidi & Phan & Ngu,
2016), which can lead to the growth of health in different areas, including social well-being
(Llorent et al., 2021). The concept of social well-being is less familiar than physical and
mental well-being, while at the same time, together with mental and physical health, it forms
one of the three important foundations of the definition of health (Fietzer, Ponterotto,
Jackson, & Bolgatz, 2016). The social well-being at the community level means that a person
in a healthy society has equal opportunities for everyone in enjoying essential services and
the performance of all citizens (Piccoli et al., 2020). The social well-being indicators of
society include things such as the rule of law, equality in the distribution of wealth, and
public access to decision-making processes (Zurcher et al., 2018). At the individual level,
social well-being comes after the individual's well-being, which is related to how he
communicates with other people in society (Koppenborg, 2020). In general, the quality of
life and personal performance of a person cannot be evaluated without considering social
criteria (Rezaei, 2020).
In this regard, the research showed that parenting styles have a significant effect on bullying
(Dareh, BaniJamali & Ahadi 2018; Esmaeilpour, Hashemi, Badri 2017). Rezaei (2020)
showed that social and emotional self-efficacy has an effect on the amount of traditional and
cyber bullying. Martínez, Murgui, García, & García (2019); Katz, Lemish, Cohen, & Arden
(2019) found that parenting styles and parental risk are effective for children's traditional
bullying and cyber victimization. Hinduja, & Patchin (2013); Llorent et al. (2021) showed
that social well-being factors influence cyber behaviors among adolescents. In general,
considering the prevalence of cyberbullying in adolescents and the impact of such behaviors,
which are very important in the amount of interactions, researchers intend to answer the
question of whether social well-being has a mediating role in relationship between perceived
parenting styles and cyber bullying.

3. Research Methods
The descriptive research method was correlation one based on structural equations. The
statistical population of the research was made up of adolescent male students of the second
grade of high school, based on the sampling method in structural equations, according to 9
apparent variables in the model and assigning a coefficient of 25, and including incomplete
questionnaires, 250 adolescents were selected as the sample.
3-1- Data collection means
- Social Well-being Questionnaire
 In this research, to assess the social well-being, Keyes' standard questionnaire (1998) was
used, which has 33 questions and 5 components of social coherence, social acceptance, social
contribution, social integration, social actualization. These questions are measured with the
options of completely agree 4, somewhat agree 3, have no opinion 2, somewhat disagree 1
and completely disagree. Sharbatian (2013) in the reliability test of the questionnaire on
students obtained Cronbach's alpha of 0.90 in the variable of social well-being.

- Perceived parenting styles questionnaire

Bori's (1991) Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ) was used to measure perceived
parenting styles. This questionnaire consists of 30 questions and 3 subscales of permissive,
authoritarian, and authoritative parenting style, each of which has 10 questions. The scoring
of the perceived parenting styles questionnaire ranges from completely disagree with a score
of 1 to completely agree with a score of 5. Buri (1991) reported the Cronbach's alpha of this
questionnaire for the logical authoritative style of 0.85, authoritarian style of 0.87 and
permissive style of 0.74. In Sepehrianazar et al.'s research (2012), the internal consistency
coefficient of this scale with Cronbach's alpha was 0.72, 0.73 and 0.70, respectively.

- Cyberbullying questionnaire
The cyberbullying scale of Patchin and& Hinduja (2011) was used to measure cyberbullying.
This scale consists of 5 questions and its scoring is based on a four-point Likert scale, and
higher scores indicate a higher level of cyberbullying. Its Cronbach's alpha coefficient was
reported as 0.76 in the research of its creators, which indicates the good internal consistency
of the test. In the study of Birami et al. (2012), Cronbach's alpha coefficient for cyberbullying
was calculated as 0.75.

Data analysis method

In this research, structural regression equation modeling was used to analyze the obtained
information. This method is one of the main methods of analyzing the structure of complex
data and one of the methods of investigating cause and effect relationships, which means the
analysis of various variables that show the simultaneous effects of variables in a theory-based
structure (Homan, 2013). SPSS 18 and AMOS 23 software were used for data analysis.

Findings
At first, the normality of the data was confirmed by checking the statistical assumptions using
the tests of Kolmogorov-Smirnov. Also, after checking the normality of the data, the
measurement model of the three research variables was checked and confirmed.

Table 1: Correlation matrix of perceived parenting styles and social well-being with
cyberbullying

Variable M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1. Permissive style 31.67 4.93 1
2. Authoritarian style 22.87 6.43 **22.- 1
3. Authoritative style 32.20 4.55 **39..- **42. 1
-
4. Social coherence 11.09 2.95 **37..- **25. **43. 1
-
5. Social acceptance 12.52 4.76 **31..- **28. **35. **30. 1
-
6. Social contribution 11.65 3.36 **22..- **23. **24. **30. **75. 1
 -
7. Social integration 14.72 4.51 **22..- **25. **23. **34. **48. **69. 1
-
8. Social actualization 17.77 4.47 **20..- **24. **27. **34. **50. **66. **83. 1
-
9. Social well-being 56.65 14.70 **28..- **30. **32. **37. **79. **89. **87. **87. 1
-
10. Cyber bullying 7.19 2.63 ** 10 . **54. **23. *13.- **21. *12.- 09.- **18. **18.- 1
- - -
* * It is significant at the 0.01 level.
* It is significant at the 0.05 level.
The results listed in Table (1) show a significant correlation between perceived parenting styles
and social well-being with cyberbullying. Authoritarian parenting style and permissive parenting
style have a positive correlation with cyberbullying, and authoritative parenting style and social
well-being subscales have a negative correlation with cyberbullying.
Table 2: Fit indices obtained from the analysis of data and variables

Index Description Acceptable values Obtained values

Relative chi-square 3> 2.796
RMSEA The square root of the
0.1> 0.048
approximation error
GFI Adjusted fitness index 0.9< 0.994
NFI Soft fit index 0.9< 0.996
CFI Comparative fit index 0.9< 0.987
DF 183
The results of table (2) show that the value of RMSEA is equal to 0.048, so this value is less
than 0.1, which indicates that the mean squared error of the model is suitable and the model is
acceptable. Also, the chi-square (χ2) value (of the degree of freedom (2.796) is between 1 and 3,
and the GFI, CFI, and NFI indices are almost equal and greater than 0.9, which show that the
model for measuring the research variables is appropriate.
Table 3: Direct estimation of the model by maximum likelihood (ML) method

Variable b β R2 t P
Perceived permissive parenting style on
0.248 0.160 0.039 2.114 0.000
cyberbullying
Perceived authoritarian parenting style
0.612 0.527 0.322 3.967 0.000
on cyberbullying
Perceived parenting style of
-0.349 -0.204 0.071 2.811 0.000
authoritative on cyberbullying
Social well-being on cyberbullying -0.252 -0.168 0.042 2.350 0.000
According to table (3), all paths of permissive parenting style, autocratic, logically authoritative
and social well-being clearly explain 0.039, 0.322, 0.017 and 0.042 of the common variance of
cyberbullying and the values of t test indicate the amount of significant effect in direct paths.
Table 4: Indirect estimation of the model using the bootstrap method
Lower Upper Significant
Variable β
limit limit
permissive parenting style on cyberbullying with the 0.269 0.384 0.180 0.000
mediation of social well-being
authoritarian parenting style on cyberbullying with 0.593 0.350 0.638 0.000
the mediation of social well-being
authoritative parenting style on cyberbullying with the-0.441 -0.514 -0.372 0.000
mediation of social well-being
According to table (4), the indirect path of perceived parenting styles on cyberbullying is
observed with the mediation of social well-being, and in general, two paths have predictive
power (R2=0.74) of the cyberbullying variable. 74 percent of this endogenous variable can be
explained by these variables, and 26 percent of the cyber bullying variable is explained by
other variables outside the research.

Figure 1: The final tested model along with the standardized prediction statistics

Discussion and conclusion

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the structural relationships between
perceived parenting style and cyberbullying with the mediation of social well-being in
adolescents. The results showed that there is a significant correlation between parenting
styles and social well-being with cyber bullying. Authoritarian parenting style and permissive
parenting style have a positive direct effect on cyberbullying, and logical authoritative
parenting style and social well-being have a negative direct effect on cyberbullying. Also, the
indirect path of parenting styles on cyberbullying was confirmed with the mediation of social
well-being, and in general, two paths have predictive power (R 2=0.74) of the variance of the
cyberbullying variable, and 74 percent of this variable is endogenous can be explained by
these variables. The results of this section are based on the research of Soheili et al., 2018),
Esmailpour et al. 2019, Llorant et al. (2021) was aligned. According to the result of the
present hypothesis, it can be said that the relationship between children and parents and other
family members can be considered as a system or network that interact with each other. This
system affects children directly and indirectly through different parenting styles and methods.
These relationships may cause behaviors such as bullying in adolescents. Parenting styles are
the methods that parents use to raise their children and also include the standards and rules
that they set for their children. At the same time, parenting behaviors change due to culture,
race and economic groups. The methods used by parents in raising their children will have a
fundamental role in ensuring the mental health of their children, so that most of the
behavioral problems of children reflect the complex interpersonal conditions of family
members, especially parents. In other words, the presence of children's behavioral problems
is the result of defective relationships between family members and is related to the parents'
incorrect educational methods and their defective interactions with their children. Any of the
lenient and authoritarian parenting methods, even without considering the child's
temperament, may lead to adolescent bullying. The family is where children are born and
experience the first connections (Ikuesan & Razak & Venter & Salleh, 2019). Family and
relatives, as the first group of individuals and as an important social institution; play a major
role in the transfer of values, intellectual fields, education and preparation of their members
(Panahi, Ebrahimi and Ahmadi, 2017). The emergence of new communication technologies
has caused fundamental changes in the structure of human interactions and communication
and has expanded human communication beyond time and space by forming a new type of
interaction. Among these new technologies are virtual social networks, which nowadays
being in this space and establishing virtual interpersonal communication has become an
inseparable part of the lives of most people, especially young people, and can play an
important role in people's social well-being (Soheili et al., 2018). Due to the direct contact
and intimate and informal relationships between the members, the family and relatives have
strong and stable emotional bonds and a high level of deep and inner love, and in this sense,
they overshadow the social well-being of the members, especially the youth (Karamozian et
al., 2018). Coordination, common thinking and relationships between parents and children
play a decisive role in family integrity, proper socialization and ultimately the social well-
being of family members. The norms of the society depend on the general situation and
conditions of the family and social harms do not arise without the influence of the family
(Soheili et al., 2018). Virtual social media can affect all people of different ages, which is
much more in children and adolescents. Cyberbullying is one of the abnormal behaviors that
occurs in cyberspace and causes many problems to people's mental and social health. In the
virtual space, people mostly follow other members and try to somehow adapt themselves to
the patterns and standards of people in the virtual community, so their social prosperity and
individual creativity are reduced, and they no longer contribute to the evolution of society.
they know and over time they become people who lack creativity and copy the values and
interests of others, but people who have self-actualization believe that the society is in control
of its destiny and through the potential of each individual, it gradually develops, and the high
capacity of social solidarity makes a person socially try to know more about the real world
around him and is interested in social projects and feels able to they understand the events
around them, the high control of these people over life events makes them have more control
over the time spent when using virtual social networks, and use virtual social networks in a
calculated way and in order to achieve use the set goals. In contrast to people who have weak
social participation, their social activities are reduced and after some time they may lose their
job and academic positions, the range of their relationships in the real world and in the virtual
world is gradually reduced. It increases and causes people's lack of responsibility
(Mohsenitabrizi et al., 2019, quoted by Sadeghi, 2016). psychology and social science experts
believe that if the society functions properly in various fields of culture, education, social
relations, etc. and has a high level of social well-being, it can deliver healthy and normal
people to the society. Otherwise, abnormal behaviors such as bullying will appear in people
(Soheili et al., 2018). Therefore, the lack of quality of social well-being in people causes the
creation and continuation of their cyber-bullying behavior (Taherimoghadam et al., 2014).
Therefore, paying attention to the findings of the research is an important platform so that by
knowing its strengths and weaknesses and strengthening them, healthy people can be raised
in all dimensions, including its social dimension, so as to have a healthy society and be able
to helped development and progress and community.

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