The increasing use of social media among adolescents has created new opportunities for communication and learning but has also intensified exposure to cyberbullying, online harassment, social comparison and digitally mediated psychological stress. This study investigated the effectiveness of a Digital-Age Adolescent Resilience Counselling Intervention (DAARCI) in reducing cyberbullying trauma and social-media-related stress while improving resilience among adolescents in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria. A convergent mixed-method quasi-experimental design was adopted. Quantitative data were obtained from 120 Senior Secondary II students identified as having experienced cyberbullying or significant social-media-related stress, with 60 assigned to an experimental group and 60 to a control group. Qualitative data were generated through semi-structured interviews with 20 purposively selected participants from the experimental group and two focus-group discussions involving school counsellors and selected parents. Quantitative data were analysed using means, standard deviations and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), while qualitative data were analysed thematically. The quantitative findings indicated greater reductions in cyberbullying trauma and social-media stress and greater improvements in resilience among participants exposed to DAARCI than among controls. Qualitative findings showed that participants experienced improved emotional regulation, reduced self-blame, greater confidence in reporting cyberbullying and increased willingness to seek counselling support. The study concludes that digitally responsive, trauma-informed counselling can provide an important intervention for adolescent stress associated with social media and cyberbullying in Nigerian schools.

Keywords: Adolescents, Cyberbullying, Social Media, Trauma, Counselling, Digital Stress, Resilience, Mixed Methods, Nigeria.