Parenting Styles and Attachment Patterns: Understanding Psychosocial Factors in Bullying among Students at St. Paul University Philippines

Abstract

: The study seeks to determine the psychological and social issues which affect both bullying offenders and their targets at St. Paul University Philippines (SPUP) while creating an effective solution to stop all current and upcoming bullying incidents. The study examines how students view their parents' parenting methods which lead to different attachment patterns among students. The academic research was conducted through a descriptive research design which took place at SPUP Junior High School during the 2016 to 2017 academic period. The research team used validated surveys which included the Scale of Parenting Style Questionnaire and the Attachment Style Classification Questionnaire to collect data from students who had experienced bullying together with their parents and teachers. The majority of fathers (77.1%) and mothers (75.0%) in the study group used an authoritative parenting style which combines high parental responsiveness with strong parental control according to descriptive statistics. The study found that 68.8% of participants developed secure attachment while 17.7% showed anxious and 13.5% of participants established avoidant attachment patterns. The research discovered that secure attachment development and reduced bullying participation link to authoritative parenting methods but insecure attachments and higher bullying activity result from authoritarian and permissive and neglectful parenting techniques. The study findings lead to multiple recommendations which include parenting education programs and parent support services and school-based intervention programs and community support systems development as essential elements to establish secure attachments which will decrease bullying events at SPUP.