When you think you know: The effectiveness of restrictive mediation on parental awareness of cyberbullying experiences among children and adolescents

Abstract

The current study examined parental awareness of their child’s cyberbullying experiences in relation to the implementation of restrictive mediation strategies (e.g., interaction and technical restrictions) among children in elementary school and adolescents in high school. Canadian parent-child dyads (N = 102) completed a survey where parents reported their perceptions of their child or adolescent’s involvement in cyber aggression, cyber victimization, and witnessing cyber aggression, while children and adolescents (ages 8–16) reported their own experiences. Mean difference scores were calculated to examine parental awareness. The results showed that parents of children in elementary school underestimated their participation in cyber aggression, whereas parents of adolescents in high school overestimated their participation in cyber aggression. In addition, parents of adolescents who did not use restrictive mediation underestimated the extent to which their adolescent witnessed cyber aggression. Overall, this study highlights the importance of parenting practices and parental knowledge of negative online behaviour across childhood and adolescence.