Human Rights Victimization and Self-esteem of University Students: Mediating Effect of Hope
and Moderating Effects of Human Rights Awareness
Chang Seek Lee and Massuline Antonio D. Ligaya
Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, Vol. 9, No. 9, September 2018, pp. 1138–1142
DOI: 10.5958/0976-5506.2018.01151.8

Research Summary

Human dignity lies at the heart of human rights, and violations of those rights can have important psychological consequences. Because self-esteem reflects an individual’s sense of self-worth and personal dignity, experiences of human rights victimization may undermine how people perceive and value themselves. This study examined the relationship between human rights victimization and self-esteem among university students in South Korea, while investigating two psychological and cognitive factors that might help explain or alter that relationship: hope and human rights awareness.

The study involved 233 university students selected through purposive sampling from universities located in Seosan City, Chungcheongnam Province, and Mokpo City, Jeonnam Province. The participants had a mean age of 22.6 years; 149 were female and 84 were male. Established instruments were used to measure human rights victimization, hope, human rights awareness, and self-esteem. The scales demonstrated acceptable to high internal reliability. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Hayes’ PROCESS macro, with bootstrapping employed to examine mediation and moderation effects.

Correlation analysis revealed that human rights victimization was significantly and negatively associated with self-esteem (r = −.452, p < .01), hope (r = −.324, p < .01), and human rights awareness (r = −.132, p < .05). In contrast, hope was strongly and positively related to self-esteem (r = .601, p < .01), suggesting that students with greater hope also tended to possess higher levels of self-esteem.

The mediation analysis provided further insight into this relationship. Human rights victimization had a significant negative effect on hope, while hope had a significant positive effect on self-esteem. Bootstrapping confirmed a significant indirect effect, demonstrating that hope mediated the relationship between human rights victimization and self-esteem. In other words, victimization was associated with diminished hope, which in turn was associated with lower self-esteem. Conversely, maintaining or strengthening hope may help protect an individual’s sense of self-worth in the face of adverse experiences.

The study also found that human rights awareness moderated the relationship between victimization and self-esteem. The interaction between human rights victimization and human rights awareness was statistically significant, indicating that the association between victimization and self-esteem varied according to students’ level of human rights awareness. This finding highlights awareness of one’s rights as an important factor in understanding how experiences of victimization relate to psychological well-being.

Taken together, the findings show that the consequences of human rights victimization cannot be understood solely through the direct relationship between victimization and self-esteem. Psychological resources such as hope and an individual’s awareness of human rights form part of a more complex process through which experiences of victimization are associated with self-perception and well-being. The study therefore points toward educational and institutional interventions that strengthen students’ hope, awareness of their rights, and capacity to respond constructively when those rights are violated.

Research Contribution

The study contributes to the literature on human rights and psychological well-being by moving beyond a simple victimization–self-esteem relationship and examining both a mediating and a moderating mechanism. By identifying hope as a mediator and human rights awareness as a moderator, it offers a more nuanced account of the factors associated with university students’ self-esteem following experiences of human rights victimization. The findings also provide a basis for universities to consider human rights education and hope-enhancing interventions as complementary approaches to supporting students’ psychological well-being.

Keywords: human rights, human rights victimization, human rights awareness, self-esteem, hope, university students, mediation, moderation

Full Text

The full text of this publication is available upon request. Researchers, educators, students, and other interested readers who wish to obtain a copy may contact the author through this website or by email at madligaya@gmail.com.