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Given the high prevalence and negative physical and psychological effects of cyberbullying on the development of adolescents, numerous studies have developed anti−cyberbullying interventions to reduce the occurrence of cyberbullying. Because of the various delivery methods, the effectiveness of parent involvement programs in reducing the frequency of cyberbullying may vary. Therefore, parent involvement modes, intervention duration, intervention modes, and intervention design may all influence the effectiveness of parent−related programs, but previous reviews have not found this to be the case. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of parent−related interventions in reducing the frequency of cyberbullying perpetration and victimization among adolescents.
Method
Search Strategy. A thorough search of seven electronic databases was conducted: EBSCO, ERIC, PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. Only quantitative studies that reported the effectiveness of parent−related interventions in reducing the frequency of cyberbullying perpetration or victimization were included in the review.
Eligibility Criteria. Four criteria were met by the studies included in this study: 1) evaluation of cyberbullying prevention or intervention programs for adolescents; 2) study samples of adolescents who were cyberbullies, cyber victims, or bystanders online; 3) the prevention or intervention programs included parent involvement, such as information sharing with parents, parent training in schools, or online resources sharing; and 4) the study provided sufficient data to calculate effect sizes. Studies that used a combination of interventions but reported parental or family involvement were also included.
Study Selection and Data Extraction. The four−stage PRISMA flow diagram guided the study selection process. All search results were exported to Endnote Version X9 and categorized according to their databases during the identification stage, and duplicates were removed. Eleven studies were completed, and the random effect model of the meta−analysis was performed by RevMan v5.4 using the inverse−variance method.
Results
The findings revealed that existing parent−related interventions had very small effect sizes on cyberbullying perpetration (standard mean differences [SMD]= −0.17, 95% CI [−0.26, −0.09]) and victimization (SMD= −0.17, 95 % CI [−0.26, −0.10]). The modes of parental involvement (information sharing with parents or parents actively participating in activities) and intervention mode (school−based delivery or class−based delivery) did not moderate the effectiveness of the programs, but shorter duration interventions (more than six months) were more effective than longer duration interventions in reducing the frequency of cyberbullying victimization. Furthermore, the findings revealed that interventions with a theoretical foundation were more effective than those without a theoretical foundation in reducing the frequency of cyberbullying perpetration.
Conclusions and Implications
This review provided evidence to improve practice by effectively enabling parent involvement in reducing the frequency of cyberbullying perpetration and victimization, as well as increasing parenting skills, parent−child interactions, and communication. Given the limited effectiveness of parent−related interventions, future research is needed to identify key moderators to improve parent−related interventions or to develop school−family patterns to reduce cyberbullying.