ABSTRACT
Although the cycle of violence is well-established in general contexts, limited research has explored it within school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV)—violence rooted in sex, sexual orientation or gender expression. Guided by the general aggression model, this study examines how two forms of SRGBV—gender-based bullying and sexual harassment—relate to adolescents’ bullying perpetration. It further investigates the mediating roles of boys-specific and girls-specific gender stereotypes and the moderating role of gender, drawing on the gender-stereotype fit hypothesis. Utilizing data from 37 332 adolescents (mean age = 15.75) across 13 countries on three continents from the 2023 Study on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES), structural equation modelling was conducted. The results indicate that both gender-based bullying and sexual harassment are significantly associated with increased levels of bullying perpetration among adolescents. Additionally, boys-specific and girls-specific gender stereotypes mediate these relationships. When gender was examined as a moderating variable, the associations between same-gender stereotypes (boys−/girls-specific stereotypes held by boys/girls) and bullying perpetration were significantly stronger than those involving cross-gender stereotypes (girls-/boys-specific stereotypes held by boys/girls). The findings highlight the importance of developing social policies and intervention programmes aimed at interrupting the SRGBV cycle by directly addressing gender stereotypes—particularly those aligned with adolescents’ own gender.