How adolescent bullying victims recover self-esteem: is family function or school climate more important?

Objective: Bullying has been widely recognised as a critical risk factor for adolescent self-esteem, and highly prevalent in Indonesia. While studies have explored the complexity of self-esteem among bullying victims, predictors and their interrelationships remain unclear. This study examines the influence of family function and school climate on self-esteem among Indonesian adolescents who experienced bullying, with resilience investigated as a mediator. Method: A total of 1.274 adolescents reporting experiences of bullying victimisation participated. Standardised instruments were used to measure self-esteem, family function, school climate, and resilience. Path analysis examined direct and indirect effects, focusing on the mediating role of resilience. Results: Both family function and school climate predicted self-esteem through resilience. Resilience consistently emerged as a key psychological mechanism that supports positive self-evaluation despite adverse experiences. Among male participants, family function was the primary predictor of resilience and self-esteem, whereas both family function and school climate were significant for females. Conclusions: Findings highlight resilience as a central pathway linking ecological factors to self-esteem among bullying victims. The study contributes to theoretical models of resilience by demonstrating gender specific pathways and emphasises resilience focused interventions to support adolescent mental health and reduce bullying’s negative effects. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: (1) Negative experiences originating from the family, school, and surrounding environment can lower adolescents’ self-esteem, which in turn leads to poor mental health. (2) The identity disruption model (IDM) is widely used to explain the effects of these environmental factors on self-esteem. (3) The concept of resilience is useful in revealing how adolescents who are victims of bullying can maintain positive self-esteem. What this topic adds: (1) This article contributes to the understanding of resilience as an internal factor by demonstrating its role in enabling individuals to maintain positive self-esteem despite having experienced bullying. (2) This article emphasises the importance of strengthening resilience, with reference to Indonesia, where bullying frequently occurs within educational settings. (3) This article highlights that psychological support for the victims of bullying often focuses on the victims, overlooking the importance of fostering a positive school climate and a functional family environment to enhance the self-esteem of bullying victims. Stefani Virliaa,b, Jatie K. Pudjibudojoa and Soerjantini Rahajua