The Social Echo of Gendered Harm: A Multilevel Cross-National Analysis of Gender-Based Violence,Social,and Emotional Competence and Bullying Perpetration

Abstract

Gender-based violence (GBV) is increasingly recognized as a critical threat to adolescent well-being; however, its specific impact on bullying perpetration and the mechanisms underlying this association remain insufficiently understood. To address this gap, the present cross-sectional study examines how school-based GBV is associated with bullying perpetration, focusing on the indirect pathways through social and emotional competence and the moderating effect of national-level masculinity-femininity cultural values. Drawing on cross-national data from 32,111 adolescents across 13 countries, and employing multilevel modeling with mediation and moderation analyses, the study yields three key findings: (a) school-based GBV is positively associated with higher levels of bullying perpetration; (b) this relationship is significantly mediated by reductions in adolescents’ social and emotional competence; and (c) the effect of GBV on bullying perpetration is stronger in high-masculinity cultural contexts than in low-masculinity cultural contexts. These findings offer a more comprehensive understanding of how individual psychosocial factors and cultural gender norms jointly shape adolescent aggression and offer practical implications for implementing school-based anti-GBV policies and social-emotional learning programs to reduce bullying behaviors.