Bullying the Brain? Longitudinal Links Between Childhood Peer Victimization, Cortisol, and Adolescent Brain Structure

Sex differences in the relationship between brain gray matter volume and psychological resilience in late adolescence

Psychological resilience reflects an individual's ability to adapt and cope successfully in adverse environments and situations, making it a crucial trait in resisting stress-linked mental disorders and physical diseases. Although prior literature has consistently shown that males are more resilient than females, the sex-linked neuroanatomical correlates of psychological resilience are largely unknown. This study aims to explore the sex-specific relation between psychological resilience and brain gray matter volume (GMV) in adolescents via structural magnetic resonance imaging (s-MRI). A cohort of 231 healthy adolescents (121/110 females/males), aged 16 to 20 completed brain s-MRI scanning and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and other controlling behavioral tests. With s-MRI data, an optimized voxel-based morphometry method was used to estimate regional GMV, and a whole-brain condition-by-covariate interaction analysis was performed to identify the brain regions showing sex effects on the relation between psychological resilience and GMV. Male adolescents scored significantly higher than females on the CD-RISC. The association of psychological resilience with GMV differed between the two sex groups in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex extending to the adjacent anterior insula, with a positive correlation among males and a negative correlation among females. The sex-specific association between psychological resilience and GMV might be linked to sex differences in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and brain maturation during adolescence. This study may be novel in revealing the sex-linked neuroanatomical basis of psychological resilience, highlighting the need for a more thorough investigation of the role of sex in future studies of psychological resilience and stress-related illness.

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.

Predictive Model of The Factors Involved in Cyberbullying of Adolescent Victims

The development of Information and Communication Technologies has favored access to technological resources in adolescents. These tools provide access to information that can promote learning. However, they can also have a negative effect against people, as they can be used with other functionality, in which cyberbullying situations are caused during the interactions that arise when using social networks. The objective of this study was to determine the predictive value of the role of cyberbullying victims based on variables related to other roles involved in cyberbullying and bullying (aggressors and witnesses), as well as personal characteristics (sex and age), contextual characteristics (type of educational school in which they are attending) and positive teamwork habits. (cooperation, responsibility, dialogue, listening, respect). Information was collected from 227 students of the educational stages of Primary Education and Secondary Education, aged between 11 and 15 years, in a city with a high index of cultural diversity. The step-by-step technique was used to build the regression model. The results indicate that the model has a good goodness of fit coefficient (adjusted R²: 0.574; p < 0.001). The role of cyberbully is the most important predictive variable of the role of the victim in cyberbullying and, to a lesser extent, the role of the witness in cyberbullying, the role of the witness in bullying, and the role of the victim of bullying. The role of the bullying aggressor and the variables sex, age, type of educational center, and teamwork habits are excluded in the predictive model.

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.

Relationship of Resilience Factors With Biopsychosocial Markers Using a Comprehensive Home Evaluation Kit for Depression and Suicide Risk: A Real-World Data Analysis

OBJECTIVES

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are fundamental factors in developing depression with increased suicide risk. Resilience is considered an important protective factor that can prevent trauma survivors from developing depression. We developed a home evaluation kit for a comprehensive assessment of bio-psycho-social factors related to depression and suicide. This kit contained a psycho-social evaluation battery, named the Protective and Vulnerable factors battery questionnaire (PROVE) comprising depressive symptoms and suicide risk, as well as various depression-related psychosocial factors, such as ACE, resilience, mentalization capacity, and attachment, via online survey tools. Furthermore, salivary cortisol levels were used as biological indicators to assess the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis function.

METHODS

Real-world data analysis was made out of data collected from participants who visited CHEEU Counseling center or Gangnam Severance hospital for mental health check-ups. The participants were put into three mental state groups (green-normal, yellow-borderline, and red-risk) depending on the result of PROVE battery. The difference between psychosocial factors and salivary cortisol indicators by the group was identified by analysis of covariance with sex and age as covariates. Linear regression analysis was conducted to find a significant association of resilience score with other bio-psycho-social variables, such as ACE, attachment, mentalization, or post-awakening cortisol concentrations (area under the curve with respect to ground, AUCg). A partial correlation analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship of AUCg with psychosocial factors.

RESULTS

Depression-related psycho-social indicators were significantly different among groups. Insecure attachment and the mentalization problem are negatively influencing factors to resilience. Furthermore, the severity of depression in participants with ACE was also influenced by mentalization problems. AUCg was different according to the PROVE group, presence of ACE, or resilience level. In addition, AUCg showed a positive correlation with resilience score but negative correlations with depressive symptoms, ACE, mentalization problems, and anxiety or avoidance attachment.

CONCLUSION

This study suggests that there are some key factors negatively affecting resilience: insecure attachment and mentalization problems. In groups with ACE, a mentalization problem was suggested as a factor that can increase depressive symptoms. AUCg was associated with resilience as well as several other vulnerable factors of depression, showing its potential as a promising biomarker.

The interaction of child abuse and rs1360780 of the FKBP5 gene is associated with amygdala resting-state functional connectivity in young adults

Extensive research has demonstrated that rs1360780, a common single nucleotide polymorphism within the FKBP5 gene, interacts with early-life stress in predicting psychopathology. Previous results suggest that carriers of the TT genotype of rs1360780 who were exposed to child abuse show differences in structure and functional activation of emotion-processing brain areas belonging to the salience network. Extending these findings on intermediate phenotypes of psychopathology, we examined if the interaction between rs1360780 and child abuse predicts resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between the amygdala and other areas of the salience network. We analyzed data of young European adults from the general population (N = 774; mean age = 18.76 years) who took part in the IMAGEN study. In the absence of main effects of genotype and abuse, a significant interaction effect was observed for rsFC between the right centromedial amygdala and right posterior insula (p < .025, FWE-corrected), which was driven by stronger rsFC in TT allele carriers with a history of abuse. Our results suggest that the TT genotype of rs1360780 may render individuals with a history of abuse more vulnerable to functional changes in communication between brain areas processing emotions and bodily sensations, which could underlie or increase the risk for psychopathology.

Do Belonging and Social Exclusion at School Affect Structural Brain Development During Adolescence?

Students' sense of belonging presents an essential resource for academic and health outcomes, whereas social exclusion at school negatively impacts students' well-being and academic performance. Aiming to understand how feelings of school-related belonging and exclusion shape the structural brain development, this study applied longitudinal questionnaire-based data and MRI data from 71 adolescent students (37 females, M_age at t1 = 15.0; t2 = 16.1 years). All were white participants from Germany. Voxel-based morphometry revealed only an association of social exclusion (and not of belonging) and gray matter volume in the left anterior insula: From t1 to t2, there was less gray matter decrease, the more social exclusion students perceived. School-related social exclusion and disturbed neurodevelopment are thus significantly associated.

Bullying victimization and stress sensitivity in help-seeking youth: findings from an experience sampling study

Bullying victimization confers the risk for developing various mental disorders, but studies investigating candidate mechanisms remain scarce, especially in the realm of youth mental health. Elevated stress sensitivity may constitute a mechanism linking bullying victimization and mental health problems. In the current study, we aimed to investigate whether exposure to bullying victimization amplifies stress sensitivity in youth's daily life. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) was used to measure stress sensitivity [i.e. the association of momentary stress with (i) negative affect and (ii) psychotic experiences] in 42 help-seeking youths (service users), 17 siblings, and 40 comparison subjects (mean age 15 years). Before ESM assessments, bullying victimization at school as well as various psychopathological domains (i.e. depression, anxiety, psychosis) were assessed. Service users exposed to high levels of overall (primary hypotheses) as well as specific types (secondary hypotheses; physical and indirect, but not verbal) of bullying victimization experienced more intense negative affect and psychotic experiences in response to stress compared to those with low exposure levels (all p < 0.05), whereas, in contrast, controls showed either less intense negative affect or no marked differences in stress sensitivity by exposure levels. In siblings, a less consistent pattern of findings was observed. Findings suggest that stress sensitivity may constitute a potential risk and resilience mechanism linking bullying victimization and youth mental health. Interventions that directly target individuals' reactivity to stress by providing treatment components in real-life using mHealth tools may be a promising novel therapeutic approach.

How does peer adversity "Get inside the Brain?" Adolescent girls' differential susceptibility to neural dysregulation of emotion following victimization

Exposure to peer victimization is a traumatic stressor, with adverse consequences for mental and physical health. This prospective, multi-method, multi-informant study investigated how victimization "gets into the brain," as reflected in neural dysregulation of emotion during adolescence. Moreover, we examined whether certain youth are particularly vulnerable to compromised neural function (i.e., a pattern of positive amygdala-right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex [rVLPFC] connectivity linked to poor emotion regulation [ER] and emotional distress) following victimization. In all, 43 adolescent girls completed an implicit ER task during a functional brain scan, and reported on rejection sensitivity. In 6th-9th grades, teachers and adolescents reported annually on victimization. Results revealed that a history of elevated victimization predicted less effective neural regulation of emotion (more positive amygdala-rVLPFC connectivity) in girls with high but not low rejection sensitivity. Consistent with a differential susceptibility model, high rejection sensitivity was associated with particularly effective neural regulation of emotion (more negative amygdala-rVLPFC connectivity) in girls with low-victimization histories. A parallel pattern emerged for a behavioral index of ER. This research provides insight into one pathway through which peer adversity undermines emotional development in ways that forecast compromised future health, and identifies youth who are at particularly high risk following peer adversity.

Cyberbullying and Adolescent Neurobiology

Whilst it is well documented that cyberbullying is linked to poor mental health outcomes, limited research has examined how cyberbullying may influence brain development adolescents, and the influence of each of these factors. The article’s primary objective was to develop an understanding of research to date that addresses any relationship between adolescent brain development and cyberbullying. The current article reviews any existing literature regarding the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent brain development, paying particular attention to research using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. Whilst brain studies have examined neural mechanisms associated with conduct disorders, antisocial behavior, and aggression in young people; there is a paucity of research examining these factors specifically in relation to cyberbullying. In particular, little research has examined how MRI research could help understand how the brain is affected by cyberbullying, not only in bullies and victims but also bystanders. This article highlights the gaps in the cyberbullying field in relation to neuroscience research, and the need for further, longitudinal research examining cyberbullying and how it may affect brain development in young people. This article concludes by suggesting a framework for future research, and highlights the importance of future findings for developing interventions and understanding short and long term effects.

Frequent Bullying Involvement and Brain Morphology in Children

Background: Over the past few decades, bullying has been recognized as a considerable public health concern. Involvement in bullying is associated with poor long-term social and psychiatric outcomes for both perpetrators and targets of bullying. Despite this concerning prognosis, few studies have investigated possible neurobiological correlates of bullying involvement that may explain the long-term impact of bullying. Cortical thickness is ideally suited for examining deviations in typical brain development, as it has been shown to detect subtle differences in children with psychopathology. We tested associations between bullying involvement and cortical thickness using a large, population-based cohort. Methods: The study sample consisted of 2,602 participants from the Generation R Study. When children were 8 years old, parents and teachers reported on common forms of child bullying involvement (physical, verbal, and relational). Questions ascertained whether a child was involved as a perpetrator (n = 82), a target of bullying (n = 92), as a combined perpetrator and target of bullying (n = 47), or uninvolved in frequent bullying (n = 2,381). High-resolution structural MRI was conducted when children were 10 years of age. Cortical thickness estimates across the cortical mantle were compared among groups. Results: Children classified as frequent targets of bullying showed thicker cortex in the fusiform gyrus compared to those uninvolved in bullying (B = 0.108, p _corrected < 0.001). Results remained consistent when adjusted for socioeconomic factors, general intelligence, and psychiatric symptoms. Children classified as frequent perpetrators showed thinner cortex in the cuneus region; however, this association did not survive stringent correction for multiple testing. Lastly, no differences in cortical thickness were observed in perpetrator-targets. Discussion: Bullying involvement in young children was associated with differential cortical morphology. Specifically, the fusiform gyrus, often involved in facial processing, showed thicker cortex in targets of frequent bullying. Longitudinal data are necessary to demonstrate the temporality of the underlying neurobiology associated with bullying involvement.