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Background <p>School-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) poses serious risks to adolescent girls’ safety, learning, and mental health. This study assessed whether perceived social support – from family, friends, and significant others – buffers the negative effects of bullying and sexual violence on girls’ self-esteem in Nigeria.</p> Methods <p>Using data from 5,936 secondary schoolgirls (aged 15–20 years) drawn from the Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project, we employed multilevel linear models with random intercepts for schools to test the direct (main) effects and within-level moderation of social support and SRGBV on girls’ self-esteem, adjusting for student- and school-level covariates.</p> Results <p>Both bullying and sexual violence were significantly associated with lower self-esteem, with standardized coefficients indicating a stronger negative association for sexual violence (β ≈ −0.07, <i>p</i> &lt; .001) than for bullying (β ≈ −0.04, <i>p</i> &lt; .01). Perceived social support showed significant positive main effects on self-esteem across all sources (<i>p</i> &lt; .001) and moderated the relationship with bullying, such that higher support from family (β ≈ 0.031, <i>p</i> &lt; .01), friends (β ≈ 0.024, <i>p</i> &lt; .05), and overall support (β ≈ 0.023, <i>p</i> &lt; .05) attenuated its negative effect. No moderating effect was observed for sexual violence for any support source (all interaction <i>p</i> &gt; .05), indicating that perceived social support did not offset the self-esteem harms associated with sexual victimization.</p> Conclusion <p>Our study demonstrates that everyday social ties, particularly support from family and peers, can protect girls’ self-esteem from the harms of bullying but appear insufficient to mitigate the severe impact of sexual violence. This suggests that effective interventions require an integrated approach: strengthening relationship-based networks to prevent and buffer bullying, alongside establishing specialized, trauma-informed responses to address sexual violence.</p>

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Differential impacts of bullying and sexual violence on girls’ self-esteem in Nigeria: the buffering role of social support

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月31日

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  • Ebuka Christian Orjiakor,
  • Wisdom Chidiebere Obioha

摘要

Background

School-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) poses serious risks to adolescent girls’ safety, learning, and mental health. This study assessed whether perceived social support – from family, friends, and significant others – buffers the negative effects of bullying and sexual violence on girls’ self-esteem in Nigeria.

Methods

Using data from 5,936 secondary schoolgirls (aged 15–20 years) drawn from the Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project, we employed multilevel linear models with random intercepts for schools to test the direct (main) effects and within-level moderation of social support and SRGBV on girls’ self-esteem, adjusting for student- and school-level covariates.

Results

Both bullying and sexual violence were significantly associated with lower self-esteem, with standardized coefficients indicating a stronger negative association for sexual violence (β ≈ −0.07, p < .001) than for bullying (β ≈ −0.04, p < .01). Perceived social support showed significant positive main effects on self-esteem across all sources (p < .001) and moderated the relationship with bullying, such that higher support from family (β ≈ 0.031, p < .01), friends (β ≈ 0.024, p < .05), and overall support (β ≈ 0.023, p < .05) attenuated its negative effect. No moderating effect was observed for sexual violence for any support source (all interaction p > .05), indicating that perceived social support did not offset the self-esteem harms associated with sexual victimization.

Conclusion

Our study demonstrates that everyday social ties, particularly support from family and peers, can protect girls’ self-esteem from the harms of bullying but appear insufficient to mitigate the severe impact of sexual violence. This suggests that effective interventions require an integrated approach: strengthening relationship-based networks to prevent and buffer bullying, alongside establishing specialized, trauma-informed responses to address sexual violence.