Children are more likely to be bullied by their peers if they are exposed to negative parenting practices, including overprotection, a major new study suggests.

UK researchers carried out an analysis of 70 studies involving over 200,000 children.

For the purpose of the study, negative parenting practices included neglect, abuse and overprotection, while positive practices included authoritative parenting, communication, support and affection.

The researchers found that children who were subjected to negative parenting behaviours were at an increased risk of being bullied by their peers. They also had an increased risk of being a ‘bully-victim', i.e. someone who is both a perpetrator and a victim of bullying.

On the other hand, children whose parents were firm but warm had a reduced risk of being bullied.

The researchers from the University of Warwick emphasised that the effects of bullying ‘fall well beyond the school playground'.

"It has lasting and profound effects into adulthood. We know that victims and bully-victims are more likely to develop physical health problems, suffer from anxiety and depression and are also at increased risk of self-harm and suicide.

"It is vital we understand more about the factors linked to bullying in order to reduce the burden it places on the affected children and society," they insisted

They noted that some people believe that bullying is a problem only for schools, ‘but it's clear from this study that parents also have a very important role to play'.

"We should therefore target intervention programmes not just in schools, but also in families, to encourage positive parenting practices such as warmth, affection, communication and support," they explained.

They acknowledged that while involvement and support are important, the link between overprotection and bullying must be taken into consideration.

"Children need support but some parents try to buffer their children from all negative experiences. In the process, they prevent their children from learning ways of dealing with bullies and make them more vulnerable," they said.

The researchers suggested that children with overprotective parents ‘may not develop qualities such as autonomy and assertion and therefore may be easy targets for bullies'.

"But it could also be that parents of victims become overprotective of their children. In either case, parents cannot sit on the school bench with their children. Parenting that includes clear rules about behaviour while being supportive and emotionally warm is most likely to prevent victimisation," they said.

They added that it is important that parents allow children to have ‘some conflicts' with their peers, so that the children can learn how to solve them without parental intervention.

Details of these finding are published in the journal , Child Abuse & Neglect.