Presentation Type

Oral Presentation

Category

Social Sciences/Humanities

Abstract/Artist Statement

Parents and peers play important roles in shaping attitudes toward a variety of matters during adolescence. However, little research has investigated parental and peer influence on developing attitudes toward bullying. To address this gap in literature, the current study recruited college students from a mid-sized public university in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States to complete a survey about their past bullying attitudes and perceptions of their parents’ and peers’ influence on their attitudes. Resulted indicated that while participants reported both their parents and peers as influential on their past attitudes, they perceived their parents as more influential and the two sources of influence were found to interact with each other. This interaction revealed that when parental influence is low, stronger peer influence is associated with weaker anti-bullying attitudes.

Mentor Name

Greg Machek

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Social Influences and Social Desirability on Recollections of Childhood Bullying

Parents and peers play important roles in shaping attitudes toward a variety of matters during adolescence. However, little research has investigated parental and peer influence on developing attitudes toward bullying. To address this gap in literature, the current study recruited college students from a mid-sized public university in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States to complete a survey about their past bullying attitudes and perceptions of their parents’ and peers’ influence on their attitudes. Resulted indicated that while participants reported both their parents and peers as influential on their past attitudes, they perceived their parents as more influential and the two sources of influence were found to interact with each other. This interaction revealed that when parental influence is low, stronger peer influence is associated with weaker anti-bullying attitudes.