The Relation Between Family Aggression and School Bullying: The Moderating Effect of Supportive School

The aim of the work was to study the moderating effect of a supportive school on the relationship between family violence and involvement in school bullying. Experienced and witnessed family violence, individual and group perception of the school climate were the main predictors. Gender, family composition, and visible ethnic status were used as control variables. The results of a survey of schoolchildren from Kaluga region (grades 8 and 9, 6273 observations) were used in the work. Multilevel logistic regression analysis has shown that individual perception of the school climate is a buffer for children who experience domestic violence. The effect of experienced violence on the chances of being an aggressor is greater than the effect of witnessed family violence. The effect of group perception of the school climate on involvement in bullying is greater than the effect of individual perception of the school. These results correlate with the findings of previous studies, as well as with family systems theory and theory of social norms, showing that, working on improvement of the well-being of students and the prevalence of bullying, it is important to build a healthy school climate not just for most students, but for every student. In addition, important actors of a child's well-being at school are teachers, whose friendly attitude towards students reduces the likelihood of involvement in bullying.