ASSOCIATION BETWEEN FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND THE BULLYING PHENOMENON AMONG SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

There is a lack of evidence about the possible role of the family environment in the occurrence of the

bullying phenomenon among school-age children. We carried out a systematic review of the literature to

investigate the positive and negative family determinants associated with the bullying phenomenon. Potential

classes of determinants - e.g. interparental conflict and/or parenting behaviours - were studied by searching

peer-reviewed literature published between the January 2008 and December 2018 on PubMed/MEDLINE,

SCOPUS and ISI Web of Science. At the end of the eligibility process, only 3 studies met all the inclusion

criteria, and were then included in the narrative synthesis. Mother destructive profile and excessive infant

crying resulted significantly associated with child emotional insecurity and conduct/mood problems at the

age of 5-6 years, respectively. Moreover, a decrease of medically unexplained symptoms in adolescent was

observed after a one-year family functioning therapy. This body of evidences should raise the interest of the

researchers in order to invest in depth the family unit impact on the bullying phenomenon in school

environment.