Hungry for inclusion: Exposure to peer victimization and heightened social monitoring in adolescent girls

Differential neural responses to body image-related cyberbullying in adolescent females

Body image-related cyberbullying (BRC), which targets an individual's body shape, weight, and/or size, is associated with body dissatisfaction and maladaptive eating behaviours among adolescent females. However, its neurobiological mechanisms remain unclear. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined neural responses to BRC stimuli in 26 females (14-18 years; Mage = 15.54) from the Longitudinal Adolescent Brain Study. BRC stimuli elicited greater BOLD responses in regions implicated in emotional regulation (insula, anterior cingulate cortex), visual processing (lateral occipital cortex, fusiform gyrus), and social cognition (temporal pole, angular gyrus). Adolescents with recent cyberbullying experiences exhibited greater BOLD responses in the parahippocampal gyrus and lateral occipital cortex, whereas those without body dissatisfaction showed greater responses in the caudate and amygdala. Longitudinally, increased cyberbullying perpetration was associated with greater BOLD responses in the angular and middle temporal gyri. These findings provide insights into neurobiological pathways through which BRC may influence adolescent brain function and mental health.

The neural underpinnings of body image-related cyberbullying in adolescent females: A proposed neurobiological model

BACKGROUND

The widespread adoption of social media has precipitated an increase in cyberbullying. Body image-related cyberbullying (BRC) is particularly prevalent among adolescent females and is associated with negative body image outcomes that can result in eating disorders. Although research has begun to address the prevalence of BRC and its associated psychological impacts a significant gap remains in understanding the specific neurobiological responses of adolescent females to BRC. This paper presents the body image-related cyberbullying neurobiological model (BRCNM), which can be used to investigate the neural underpinnings of adolescent females' responses to BRC.

METHOD

Drawing from neuroimaging research, particularly functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of body image and peer victimisation, the BRC-NM details the complex interactions among neural, psychological, and social factors in experiences of BRC.

RESULTS

The BRC-NM delineated several crucial brain regions involved in emotional regulation, self-referential thought, and social cognition that are known to be involved in the emotional and cognitive processing of viewing BRC among adolescent females.

CONCLUSION

By integrating existing knowledge and establishing connections across disciplines such as psychology and neurobiology, the BRC-NM contributes to the evolving field of neurobiological research, enhancing our understanding of the impact of cyberbullying and supporting the development of targeted interventions.

Neural correlates of vicarious reward processing and peer victimization experiences in late childhood

This preregistered study examined the neural correlates of vicarious reward processing and subsequent trust behavior in relation to experiences of victimization averaged over two years in late childhood. This study used a sample of children with prospective longitudinal data on peer victimization over the past two years (nbehavioral = 83, 49.4 % girls, Mage = 10.6 years, nfmri = 62). Participants played an fMRI vicarious reward task in which they could win or lose money for themselves and two other peers. The two other peers were experimentally manipulated to either include or exclude the participant in a Cyberball task prior to the task. Additionally, trust in the two peers was assessed using a one-shot trust game. Results revealed ventral striatum activation when winning (versus losing) for oneself, and activation in the dmPFC, vmPFC and precuneus when playing for excluders rather than for oneself. Victimization predicted decreased ventral striatum activation during personal rewards, and increased activation in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex when playing for excluders rather than for oneself. Finally, averaged victimization was associated with increased differentiation in trust toward the including and excluding peers. Together, these findings contribute to our understanding of the social cognitions and behaviors of victims of bullying.

Brain fingerprint and subjective mood state across the menstrual cycle

Background

Brain connectome fingerprinting represents a recent and valid approach in assessing individual identifiability on the basis of the subject-specific brain functional connectome. Although this methodology has been tested and validated in several neurological diseases, its performance, reliability and reproducibility in healthy individuals has been poorly investigated. In particular, the impact of the changes in brain connectivity, induced by the different phases of the menstrual cycle (MC), on the reliability of this approach remains unexplored. Furthermore, although the modifications of the psychological condition of women during the MC are widely documented, the possible link with the changes of brain connectivity has been poorly investigated.

Methods

We conducted the Clinical Connectome Fingerprint (CCF) analysis on source-reconstructed magnetoencephalography signals in a cohort of 24 women across the MC.

Results

All the parameters of identifiability did not differ according to the MC phases. The peri-ovulatory and mid-luteal phases showed a less stable, more variable over time, brain connectome compared to the early follicular phase. This difference in brain connectome stability in the alpha band significantly predicted the self-esteem level (p-value <0.01), mood (p-value <0.01) and five (environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance) of the six dimensions of well-being (p-value <0.01, save autonomy).

Conclusion

These results confirm the high reliability of the CCF as well as its independence from the MC phases. At the same time the study provides insights on changes of the brain connectome in the different phases of the MC and their possible role in affecting women's subjective mood state across the MC. Finally, these changes in the alpha band share a predictive power on self-esteem, mood and well-being.

The impact of psychosocial adversity on brain and behaviour: an overview of existing knowledge and directions for future research

Environmental experiences play a critical role in shaping the structure and function of the brain. Its plasticity in response to different external stimuli has been the focus of research efforts for decades. In this review, we explore the effects of adversity on brain's structure and function and its implications for brain development, adaptation, and the emergence of mental health disorders. We are focusing on adverse events that emerge from the immediate surroundings of an individual, i.e., microenvironment. They include childhood maltreatment, peer victimisation, social isolation, affective loss, domestic conflict, and poverty. We also take into consideration exposure to environmental toxins. Converging evidence suggests that different types of adversity may share common underlying mechanisms while also exhibiting unique pathways. However, they are often studied in isolation, limiting our understanding of their combined effects and the interconnected nature of their impact. The integration of large, deep-phenotyping datasets and collaborative efforts can provide sufficient power to analyse high dimensional environmental profiles and advance the systematic mapping of neuronal mechanisms. This review provides a background for future research, highlighting the importance of understanding the cumulative impact of various adversities, through data-driven approaches and integrative multimodal analysis techniques.

Sexual dimorphism in cortical theta rhythms relates to elevated internalizing symptoms during adolescence

Psychiatric disorders frequently emerge during adolescence, with girls at nearly twice the risk compared to boys. These sex differences have been linked to structural brain differences in association regions, which undergo profound development during childhood and adolescence. However, the relationship between functional activity in these cortical regions and the emergence of psychiatric disorders more broadly remains poorly understood. Herein, we investigated whether differences in internalizing and externalizing symptoms among youth are related to multispectral spontaneous neural activity. Spontaneous cortical activity was recorded using magnetoencephalography (MEG) in 105 typically-developing youth (9-15 years-old; 54 female) during eyes-closed rest. The strength of spontaneous neural activity within canonical frequency bands was estimated at each cortical vertex. The resulting functional maps were submitted to vertex-wise regressions to identify spatially specific effects whereby sex moderated the relationship between externalizing and internalizing symptoms, age, and spontaneous neural activity. The interaction between sex, age, and internalizing symptoms was significant in the theta frequency band, wherein theta activity was weaker for older relative to younger girls (but not boys) with greater internalizing symptoms. This relationship was strongest in the temporoparietal junction, with areas of the cingulate cortex exhibiting a similar relationship. The moderating role of sex in the relationship between age, internalizing symptoms, and spontaneous theta activity predominantly implicated association cortices. The negative relationship between theta and internalizing symptoms may reflect negative rumination with anxiety and depression. The specificity of this effect to older girls may reflect the selective emergence of psychiatric symptoms during adolescence in this subgroup.

Bullying Victimization and Comorbid Patterns of PTSD and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents: Random Intercept Latent Transition Analysis

Many studies have examined post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depressive symptoms in adolescents under the background of school bullying, but not their comorbidities and changes over time. This study used random intercept latent transition analysis (RI-LTA) to examine the transitions in comorbid patterns of PTSD and depressive symptoms among 815 adolescents (45.0% boys; Mage-baseline = 13.69, SD = 1.60), who reported their symptoms in a 3-year longitudinal study. Three comorbid patterns were found: low symptoms, predominantly PTSD symptoms, and symptoms of comorbidity. Among these patterns, five trends were found through 3 years: stable low symptoms, stable PTSD symptoms, improving symptoms, worsening symptoms, and an inverted-U pattern. Age, time that parents spend with their child, being an only child, family income and experiencing relational bullying were predictors of these transitions. These suggest that patterns of PTSD and depressive symptoms are heterogeneous and may change over time since trauma events. Developing targeted interventions based on underlying factors through distinct patterns and transitions may help us better optimize and utilize intervention resources to alleviate symptoms from bullying victims.

Neural activation to peer acceptance and rejection in relation to concurrent and prospective depression risk in adolescent and pre-adolescent girls

Neurobiological sensitivity to peer interactions is a proposed marker of risk for adolescent depression. We investigated neural response to peer rejection and acceptance in relation to concurrent and prospective depression risk in adolescent and pre-adolescent girls. Participants were 76 girls (Mage=13, 45% racial/ethnic minorities) varying in depression risk: 22 with current major depressive disorder (MDD), 30 at High Risk for MDD based on parental history, and 24 at Low Risk with no psychiatric history. Girls participated in the Chatroom-Interact task-involving rejection and acceptance feedback from fictitious peers-while undergoing functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging. Activation in response to peer rejection and acceptance was extracted from regions of interest. Depressive symptoms were assessed at 6- and 12-month follow-up. Girls with MDD showed blunted left subgenual anterior cingulate response to acceptance versus girls in High and Low Risk groups. Girls in the High Risk group showed greater right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ) and right anterior insula (AI) activation to both acceptance and rejection versus girls in the MDD (rTPJ) and Low Risk (rTPJ, AI) groups. Greater rTPJ response to rejection was associated with fewer depressive symptoms at 12-months and mediated the association between High Risk group status and 12-month depressive symptoms; greater rTPJ response to acceptance mediated the association between High Risk and increased 12-month depressive symptoms. Our finding of associations between altered neural response to peer interactions and concurrent and prospective depression risk/resilience highlights the importance of neural underpinnings of social cognition as risk and compensatory adaptations along the pathway to depression.

Influence of Social Exclusion on Cool and Hot Inhibitory Control in Chinese College Students

Social exclusion can affect nearly every aspect of a person's mental health, both on an emotional and cognitive level. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether cool or hot inhibitory control capacity varied under social exclusion. More precisely, participants who had experienced and not experienced social exclusion were compared to explore the influence of social exclusion on cool and hot inhibitory controls. Social exclusion was induced through the use of a Cyberball game, and participants were divided into an exclusion group and an inclusion group. The number Stroop task and emotional face Stroop task were used to measure the cool and hot inhibitory control, respectively. In the cool Stroop task, participants had to refrain from reading printed digits to identify the number of items presented in the array. In the hot Stroop task, participants had to inhibit the meaning of the word to identify the emotion displayed on the face. Reaction time, accuracy, and Stroop interference were analyzed to compare the inhibitory control between the exclusion group and the inclusion group. The results showed an extension of the response time in the exclusion group compared to the inclusion group. We found a higher interference effect in the number of Stroop tasks in the exclusion group than that in the inclusion group, but it was not significant in the emotional face Stroop task. The results suggest that the cognitive and emotional basis of inhibitory control may differ during social exclusion. The present findings expand our understanding of how social exclusion affects cool and hot inhibitory controls and their internal psychological mechanism.

Intrinsic connectivity within the affective salience network moderates adolescent susceptibility to negative and positive peer norms

Not all adolescents are equally susceptible to peer influence, and for some, peer influence exerts positive rather than negative effects. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, the current study examined how intrinsic functional connectivity networks associated with processing social cognitive and affective stimuli predict adolescents' (n = 87, ages 11-14 years) prosocial tendencies and risky behaviors in the context of positive and negative peer norms. We tested the moderating role of four candidate intrinsic brain networks-associated with mentalizing, cognitive control, motivational relevance, and affective salience-in peer influence susceptibility. Only intrinsic connectivity within the affective salience network significantly moderated the association between peer norms and adolescent behavior above and beyond the other networks. Adolescents with high intrinsic connectivity within the affective salience network reported greater prosocial tendencies in contexts with more positive peer norms but greater risk-taking behavior in contexts with more negative peer norms. In contrast, peer norms were not associated with adolescent behavior for individuals with low affective salience within-network intrinsic connectivity. The mentalizing network, cognitive control network, and motivational relevance network were not associated with individual differences in peer influence susceptibility. This study identifies key neural mechanisms underlying differential susceptibility to positive and negative peer influence in early adolescence, with a particular emphasis on the role of affective salience over traditional mentalizing, regulatory, and motivational processes.

Empathy, Defending, and Functional Connectivity While Witnessing Social Exclusion

Peers are present for most bullying episodes. Peers who witness bullying can play an important role in either stopping or perpetuating the behaviour. Defending can greatly benefit victimized peers. Empathy is strongly associated with defending. Yet, less is known about defenders' neural response to witnessing social distress, and how this response may relate to the link between empathy and defending. Forty-six first-year undergraduate students (M_age = 17.7; 37 women), with varied history of peer defending, underwent fMRI scanning while witnessing a depiction of social exclusion. Functional connectivity analysis was performed across brain regions that are involved in cognitive empathy, empathetic distress, and compassion. History of defending was positively associated with functional connectivity (Exclusion > Inclusion) between the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) - medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and right OFC - left and right amygdalae. Defending was negatively associated with functional connectivity between the left OFC - anterior cingulate cortex. The relationship between history of defending and empathy (specifically, empathetic perspective taking) was moderated by functional connectivity of the right OFC - left amygdala. These findings suggest that coactivation of brain regions involved in compassionate emotion regulation and empathetic distress play a role in the relationship between empathy and peer defending.

The association between peer-victimisation and structural and functional brain outcomes: A systematic review

Background

Peer adversity and aggression are common experiences in childhood and adolescence which lead to poor mental health outcomes. To date, there has been no review conducted on the neurobiological changes associated with relational peer-victimisation, bullying and cyberbullying.

Methods

This systematic review assessed structural and functional brain changes associated with peer-victimisation, bullying, and cyberbullying from 1 January 2000 to April 2021. A systematic search of Psychoinfo, Pubmed, and Scopus was performed independently by two reviewers using predefined criteria. Twenty-six studies met the selection criteria and were considered for review.

Results

The data collected shows altered brain activation of regions implicated in processing reward, social pain, and affect; and heightened sensitivity and more widespread activation of brain regions during acute social exclusion, most notably in the amygdala, left parahippocampal gyrus, and fusiform gyrus, associated with victimisation exposure. In addition, victimised youths also demonstrated greater risk-taking behaviours following acute social exclusion showing greater ventral striatum-inferior frontal gyrus coupling, activation in the bilateral amygdala, orbital frontal cortex (OFC), medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), temporoparietal junction (TPJ), medial posterior parietal cortex (MPPC) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), suggesting greater social monitoring, seeking of inclusion, and more effortful cognitive control. The studies included participants from a very broad developmental age range, mostly using cross-sectional measure of peer-victimisation exposure, at varying developmental stages.

Conclusions

This review highlights the need for more neuroimaging studies in cyberbullying, as well as longitudinal studies across more diverse samples for investigating gender, age, and developmental interactions with peer-victimising. This also brings to attention the importance of addressing bullying victimisation particularly in adolescence, given the evidence for social stress in heightening developmentally sensitive processes which are associated with depression, anxiety, and externalising symptoms.

Integrative Brain Dynamics in Childhood Bullying Victimization: Cognitive and Emotional Convergence Associated With Stress Psychopathology

Bullying victimization is a form of psychological stress that is associated with poor outcomes in the areas of mental health and learning. Although the emotional maladjustment and memory impairment following interpersonal stress are well documented, the mechanisms of complex cerebral dysfunctions have neither been outlined nor studied in depth in the context of childhood bullying victimization. As a contribution to the cross-disciplinary field of developmental psychology and neuroscience, we review the neuropathophysiology of early life stress, as well as general psychological stress to synthesize the data and clarify the versatile dynamics within neuronal networks linked to bullying victimization. The stress-induced neuropsychological cascade and associated cerebral networks with a focus on cognitive and emotional convergence are described. The main findings are that stress-evoked neuroendocrine reactivity relates to neuromodulation and limbic dysregulation that hinder emotion processing and executive functioning such as semantic cognition, cognitive flexibility, and learning. Developmental aspects and interacting neural mechanisms linked to distressed cognitive and emotional processing are pinpointed and potential theory-of-mind nuances in targets of bullying are presented. The results show that childhood stress psychopathology is associated with a complex interplay where the major role belongs to, but is not limited to, the amygdala, fusiform gyrus, insula, striatum, and prefrontal cortex. This interplay contributes to the sensitivity toward facial expressions, poor cognitive reasoning, and distress that affect behavioral modulation and emotion regulation. We integrate the data on major brain dynamics in stress neuroactivity that can be associated with childhood psychopathology to help inform future studies that are focused on the treatment and prevention of psychiatric disorders and learning problems in bullied children and adolescents.

Neurobiological correlates of the social and emotional impact of peer victimization: A review

Peer victimization is very common during late childhood and adolescence. Despite the relatively reduced number of studies, the neurobiological underpinnings of the negative impact of peer victimization experiences have received increasing attention in recent years. The present selective review summarizes the most recent available evidence and provides a general overview of the impact of peer victimization experiences on social processing and decision-making at the neurobiological level, highlighting the most pressing areas requiring further research. Three key cognitive areas show a clear negative impact of peer victimization and bullying experiences: social valuation processing, reward and reinforcement learning and self-regulation processes. Victims show enhanced activation in key regions of the limbic system including the amygdala, rostral and dorsal anterior cingulate cortices, suggestive of enhanced sensitivity to social stimuli. They also show enhanced recruitment of lateral prefrontal regions crucially involved in cognitive and emotional regulation processes, and abnormal reward-related striatal function. The presence of psychopathology is a complex factor, increased as a consequence of peer victimization, but that also constitutes vulnerability to such experiences.

Like me Back: Neural Correlates of Low Perceived Relational Value in Peer Victimized Youth

Perceived relational value describes the extent to which individuals consider themselves to be liked and valued. Given the salience of peer opinions in adolescence, perceived relational value is an important part of adolescents' developing self-concept. Here, we examined the neural correlates of youth's perceptions of their relational value in two independent samples (N = 33, M_age  = 13.71, SD = 2.71; N = 26, M_age  = 15.43, SD = 0.33). In both studies, peer victimization was associated with lower perceived relational value behaviorally and with altered frontostriatal connectivity when perceiving low relational value during fMRI. Our results suggest that peer victimization may lead youth to become biased about how they will be perceived socially and may disrupt connectivity between brain regions involved in responding to appetitive social stimuli.

Methodological Analysis of the Effect of an Anti-Bullying Programme in Secondary Education through Communicative Competence: A Pre-Test-Post-Test Study with a Control-Experimental Group

The promotion of communicative competence in students play a key role in schools for the purpose of improving social, emotional and coexistence relationships in Secondary Education students. The development of said competence can represent a great strategy to improve conflicts in the classroom, notably bullying. We used a quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test control group design with a sample of 55 students from the city of Salamanca (Spain) to analyse the level of conflict and their perceptions about bullying during the 2017–2018 academic year. The anti-bullying programme called the Improvement of Coexistence and Communicative Competence (ICCC) programme used is. The behaviour of students based on their level of coexistence with the group of classmates was measured by the INSEBULL instrument (Bullying Assessment Instrument), which added one more dimension of own elaboration. The results showed that, even though the significant levels of conflict, they decreased substantially once the ICCC programme was applied. Furthermore, we found differences between the control and experimental groups which underlined the effectiveness of the program. Regarding gender, no differences were found in the experimental group. This study shows that the development of communicative competence in students has a significant impact on their level of coexistence with other classmates, although the results suggested the need for longitudinal implementation of the programme in order to improve school coexistence and social skills of students from the early stages of education.