The Role of Sociocultural Context in Cyberbullying in Israeli Society: Comparing Arab and Jewish Parents’ Perceived Knowledge of Their Adolescent Children’s Involvement in Cyberbullying

This paper examines the relationship between parental monitoring and control, parents’ perceived knowledge of their adolescent’s online activities, and parents’ perceived knowledge of their adolescent’s involvement in cyberbullying, among Israeli Jewish and Arab parents of adolescents. The 407 participants consisted of two groups: Jewish (n = 194) and Arab (n = 213) parents of adolescents in Israel, who were recruited via online social networks and completed an online survey. The self-report questionnaire included the Stattin and Kerr Parental Control and Parental Monitoring Questionnaire (Stattin & Kerr in Developmental Psychology 36:366, 2000), as well as parental knowledge of child online activities and witnessing and experiencing cyberbullying. Parental monitoring and control were perceived as higher by Jewish than Arab parents, while no group differences were found for perceived child disclosure or parental knowledge of adolescent online activity. Parental knowledge of the adolescent witnessing cyberbullying was higher among Arab than Jewish parents, while the opposite was found for parental knowledge of the adolescent experiencing cyberbullying. Parental knowledge of the adolescent both witnessing and experiencing cyberbullying was related to group affiliation, lower parental education, and higher parental perceived knowledge of the adolescent’s online activities. Parents’ perceived knowledge of the adolescent witnessing cyberbullying was further related to higher perceived adolescent disclosure. The study increases our understanding of perceived parental involvement and its relationship with parents’ perceived knowledge of the adolescent’s involvement in cyberbullying in a diverse and multicultural society.