Although genetics and temperament play an important role while determining bullying behavior in the child, family characteristics are also known to play an important role. Families of bullies and their characteristics play an important role because family dynamics and characteristics often influence a child’s behavior. The kind of behavior a child engages in is learned by interacting with family members. It is essential for parents to understand their family dynamics in order to reduce victimization or perpetration of bullying.

How do fathers and mothers react to their child getting bullied?

According to a recent survey, parental reactions differ drastically for male and female offspring when they discover their kids are being bullied. Mothers of male victims tend to get over-protective towards their sons. They become over-controlling and coddling towards their male child who is being bullied. Fathers, on the other hand get highly critical of their sons. Oftentimes, the male victim’s father is not involved, distant or does not live with his son. Fathers teach their sons how to deal with bullying. Their emotional distance makes the child more vulnerable to bullies.

On the contrary, family characteristics of female bullies and victims/ female victims are often surrounded by families with poor communication skills. These family structures function inadequately and there is hostility among family members.

Mothers of female victims tend to distance themselves from their child. They become hostile. They reject their daughters and withdraw their love from them. Female victims get threatened by their mothers of rejection or abandoning.

How do kids respond to these family characteristics?

When male victims encounter such behavior from their parents, they become over-emotional and have difficulty while handling challenges in interpersonal challenges. Bullies thrive among kids who are over-emotional and have poor coping skills. Bullies don’t look for victims who will not respond to their taunts. Instead they seek victims who will cry or become overly upset when they are bullied.

Girls, however, who get treated by their mothers this way, are not able to develop healthy relationships with other girls because their mothers have never shown them how to cope with different kinds of behavior coming from other girls. Their interpersonal skills suffer. Researchers suggest that such girls become an easy target of bullies because they find it difficult to regulate their emotions and express their feelings and emotions. They lack empathy and fail to communicate effectively with their peers. This makes them an easy target for bullies.

What parents ought to do?

Because fathers mentor their sons and teach them how to cope with upsetting situations, their absence is often to blame when a male child falls prey to bullies. Mothers’ behavior towards their offspring stifles their emotional growth and they fail to cope with difficult situations. While mothers do not model healthy relationships to their daughters the ineffective communication makes them vulnerable to bullies.