Bullying Victimization Heightens Cortisol Response to Psychosocial Stress in Chinese Children

Exploring the associations between symptom severity, metacognition, problematic social media use and cyberbullying in treatment naïve adolescents with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder

This study investigates the relationship between ADHD symptom severity, metacognition, problematic social media use, and cyberbullying/cybervictimization in treatment-naïve adolescents. Understanding these relationships is vital for enhancing ADHD intervention strategies. Using a cross-sectional design, 97 adolescents meeting DSM-5 criteria for ADHD without any comorbidity and 97 healthy controls were assessed. Measures included the Metacognitions Questionnaire for Children, Social Media Disorder Scale, Revised Cyberbullying Inventory-II, and Revised Conners' Parent Rating Scale-Short. The comparisons were performed with independent samples' t tests and the associations were estimated by using Pearson's bivariate correlations and multiple regression analyses. Results revealed that adolescents with ADHD exhibited higher levels of dysfunctional metacognitions, problematic social media use, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization compared to controls. Regression analysis showed significant positive associations between ADHD symptoms, specific metacognitions (e.g., positive meta-worry, cognitive monitoring), and problematic social media use. This study, the first of its kind among treatment-naïve ADHD adolescents, provides valuable insights into the relationship between ADHD symptoms and particular metacognitions (i.e. positive meta-worry, cognitive monitoring) and problematic social media use. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of ADHD in adolescence and may inform the development of targeted prevention and treatment strategies, particularly relevant given adolescents' susceptibility to social media's influence and their potential for cognitive flexibility in rehabilitation contexts.

Diurnal cortisol profiles in autistic adolescents and young adults: Associations with social difficulties and internalizing mental health symptoms

Several autism-related characteristics, such as social difficulties, may contribute to high perceived stress and increased exposure to stressful life events in some autistic individuals. Repeated exposure to stress might lead to the dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical-axis and be a vulnerability factor for developing mental health difficulties. Previous studies show contradictory findings on salivary cortisol in autism. In the current study, we investigated diurnal cortisol profiles in autistic adolescents and young adults, as well as their associations with social difficulties, stress exposure, and mental health symptoms. Autistic (n = 48, Mage = 17.6) and nonautistic (n = 51, Mage = 18.4) participants collected salivary cortisol at home six times a day for 2 days. Social difficulties, exposure to stressful life events/bullying, and mental health symptoms were assessed with questionnaires and clinical interviews. Similar diurnal cortisol slopes (DCS) and cortisol awakening responses were observed between the groups, but autistic participants showed higher total cortisol output (AUCG, area under the curve with respect to ground) during the day (b = 19.09, p = 0.009). In the autistic group, more severe social difficulties were associated with flatter DCS (b = 0.01, p = 0.007). Finally, cortisol alterations were associated with self-reported mental health symptoms, especially in autistic females in analyses uncorrected for multiple comparisons. In conclusion, our results do not indicate autism-related group-level alterations in most diurnal cortisol measures, but autistic youth showed higher total cortisol (AUCG) compared with nonautistic peers. More detailed investigation of interindividual variability in cortisol profiles within autistic people might give us important insights into vulnerability to developing stress-related mental health difficulties.

Do Hormone Levels Influence Bullying during Childhood and Adolescence? A Systematic Review of the Literature

(1) Background: Bullying is one of the most common forms of aggressive behavior during childhood and adolescence. Some decades ago, researchers began exploring the basis of peer victimization from a biological perspective. Specifically, the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal (HPG) axes have been studied in relation to status-relevant behaviors, such as bullying. (2) Methods: We conducted a systematic review following the PRISMA guide and registered the review protocol at PROSPERO (CRD42023494738). We searched for relevant studies in PubMed, Psycinfo, Scopus, and Web of Science, and assessed them using the Robins E-tool. (3) Results: Our search yielded 152 studies, of which 33 were included in the review. These studies explored the association between testosterone and cortisol levels with bullying behavior, finding diverse results. Most of the studies were rated as having a low risk of bias. (4) Conclusions: This study not only enhances our understanding of bullying, but also provides guidance for the development of prevention and management programs for it. In the future, researchers should continue exploring the joint effects of different hormones on the HPA and HPG axis, using a broader set of biomarkers.

Childhood Social Isolation as a Predictor of Retinal Neuronal Thickness in Middle Age: A Lifecourse Birth Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE

We investigated whether childhood social isolation was associated with retinal neural layer changes in adulthood, and whether this association was independent of other childhood or adulthood risk factors, including adult social isolation.

METHODS

Participants were members of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, a longitudinal population-based birth cohort from Aotearoa New Zealand ( n = 1037), born 1972 to 1973 and followed until age 45 years, with 94% of the living cohort still participating. Social isolation was recorded prospectively at ages 5, 7, 9, and 11 years, from teacher and parent report. Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer thicknesses were measured via optical coherence tomography at age 45 years.

RESULTS

Childhood social isolation was associated with thinner average RNFL ( B = -0.739, p = .02), nasal RNFL ( B = -1.118, p = .005), and inferior RNFL ( B = -1.524, p = .007), although only nasal RNFL remained significant after adjustment. These associations were not fully explained by other psychosocial or physical health risk factors in childhood or adulthood, nor were they mediated by adult loneliness or social support.

CONCLUSIONS

Childhood social isolation was an independent predictor of RNFL thickness in middle age. Highlighting prospective links between childhood psychosocial adversity and retinal neuronal measures will help to inform future research into the utility of retinal neuronal thickness as a biomarker for neurodegeneration.

Bullying victimization and depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents: A moderated mediation model of self-esteem and friendship intimacy

BACKGROUND

Depression is a major mental disorder and poses a serious threat to public health. Bullying victimization is identified as one of the major risk factors for depression in adolescence. Understanding the mechanism that explain why bullying victimization leads to depression, and identifying protective factors that could alleviate the negative effects of bullying victimization are pivotal to developing effective intervention programs.

METHODS

A sample of Chinese adolescents in junior high schools (N = 458, 50.58 % girls, M age = 11.63 years at T1) was followed for three years. The data on depression, bullying victimization, self-esteem, and friendship intimacy were collected from adolescents' self-report.

RESULTS

After controlling related variables, T1 bullying victimization positively predicted T3 depressive symptoms. T2 self-esteem mediated the link between T1 bullying victimization and T3 depressive symptoms when T1 friendship intimacy was low. More specifically, only for youth who reported low friendship intimacy, bullying victimization would lead to a lower level of self-esteem, which in turn, was associated with a higher level of depression.

LIMITATIONS

The study only considered the roles of self-esteem as the mediator and friendship intimacy as the moderator. All measures were based on self-report.

CONCLUSIONS

The results highlighted the role of friendship intimacy and self-esteem in the longitudinal relation between bullying victimization and depressive symptoms. The results suggest that intervention programs aiming at reducing victimized adolescents' depressive symptoms should consider the buffering effect of friendship intimacy.

Hair cortisol as a biomarker of chronic stress in preadolescents: influence of school context and bullying

Bullying has been identified as the most common form of aggression and a major source of stress among children and adolescents. The main objective of this study was to analyze the association that school context in general and bullying in particular might have with hair cortisol concentration (HCC), examining the effect of executive function and sex on this association. The study included 659 11-year-old preadolescents from the cohorts of Gipuzkoa and Sabadell of the INMA (INfancia y Medio Ambiente-Children and Environment) project. We gathered information about school-related factors (bullying, school environment, problems with peers and academic performance) and executive function (risky decision-making). Hair samples were collected to measure cortisol concentrations and Structural Equation Modeling was used to examine associations between school-related factors, executive function and HCC. Results showed that being involved as a bully/victim was related to higher HCC and, higher HCC was associated with poorer executive function. This study may contribute to a better understanding of the consequences that chronic exposure to a stressful factors may have on preadolescents' health and developmental outcomes. Besides, our results are relevant for designing programs for prevention and intervention, which could modify individual physiological responses to stress and reduce the effects of stress on the health.

Emotional processing in bullying: an event-related potential study

Bullying is a subtype of violence that leads to maladaptive behaviors and emotional responses, with implications for social competence, emotions, and empathy. The present study compared the time course of emotional processing in children who were involved in the dynamics of bullying (i.e., as victims, bullies, and observers) by evaluating event-related potentials [early posterior negativity and late positive potential (LPP)] in different brain regions during a passive visualization task that involved positive, neutral, and negative social pictures. High-density electroencephalograms were recorded in 45 children, 8-12 years old (M = 9.5 years, SD = 1.3), while they observed emotional and neutral social pictures that we selected from the International Affective Picture System. Late positive potential had higher amplitudes in the victim group, especially in posterior and anterior regions. In the central region, LPP was greater toward neutral social pictures in bullying victims. The greater amplitude of LPP in victims was observed during and after the stimulus. The results showed a consistent response with a higher intensity in response to emotional stimuli in the victim group, suggesting a tendency toward hypervigilance that could interfere with emotional regulation.

A latent transition analysis of longitudinal stability of peer victimization experiences among Chinese adolescents

BACKGROUND

Peer victimization is a source of stress for many adolescents and has important implications for their psychosocial development. Importantly, adolescents' experiences of peer victimization are dynamic and may change over time, due to individual and school-based contextual factors.

OBJECTIVE

The goal of the current study was to examine the stability of peer victimization and predictive effects of individual and contextual factors on the changes in patterns of victimization for Chinese adolescents over a 12-month period.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

A total of 1281 Chinese middle school students (Time 1 [T1]: M_age = 13.40, SD = 0.97; 56.3% males) participated in the study.

METHODS

Adolescents self-reported on a variety of variables at baseline (i.e., T1) and 12 months later (i.e., Time 2 [T2]). Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) and Latent Transition Analysis (LTA) were used to identify latent profiles and transition patterns of victimization among adolescents. Additionally, logistic regressions were used to investigate the effects of social emotional competence and school climate on the victimization types and transition patterns of adolescents.

RESULTS

Adolescents' patterns of victimization could be divided into three groups, including (1) a low victimized group, (2) a moderately and verbally victimized group, and (3) a severe multi-type victimized group. Adolescents in the low victimized group showed the highest stability in their peer victimization experiences from T1 to T2. Social emotional competence and school climate had significant effects on the probability of transitioning from the low victimization group to a higher victimization group over time.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings emphasize the importance of early intervention efforts designed to curb peer victimization among Chinese adolescents.

Impact of Bullying and Facts on Victims in Elementary Schools

Background: Bullying is a serious problem for the mental health development of school-age children. Few studies in Indonesia have reported how the impact of bullying causes children to experience stress and difficulty in building social relationships. Aim: This study aimed to determine the impact and phenomenon of becoming victims of bullying in elementary schools in Indonesia.  Methods: This research used a mixed-method approach with a sequential explanatory design. The sampling technique used multistage random sampling. The sample population included 617 elementary school students who are in grades 4, 5, and 6. The quantitative data analysis used structural equation modeling (SEM) while the qualitative data analysis was based on the results of SEM analysis. Results: The impact of bullying on victims is stressful and symptomatic. The victims revealed they became depressed, had poor performance, had difficulty in socializing, did not dare to report fear of being ostracized, feared they would become the next victim, and was advised by the teacher not to reply, be patient, and just let it go. As a result, the victims complained they felt ugly, ashamed among friends, and reluctant to attend the class. Teachers consider bullying as ordinary delinquency because the victim can recover without help, think it is normal, or it was just a joke so there is no need for special rules. Conclusion: Bullying of elementary school students has a negative impact on their mental health and causes psychosocial problems. There is a tendency to become repeated victims, while the ambivalence of teachers makes victims more vulnerable to bullying.

Reliability and validity of the Peer Relation Questionnaire in a sample of Greek school children and adolescents

Bullying among children and adolescents can have detrimental effects on their physical and mental health. The first step in the identification of bullying is the detection of relevant signs and behaviours, with the use of appropriate instruments. The widely used Peer Relation Questionnaire (PRQ)has been developed to measure bullying behaviour in children and adolescents. The aim of this study was to translate and validate this instrument in the Greek language in a school sample of children and adolescents. A sample of 193 students (mean age ± SD 11.44 ± 1.26 years, girls 49.7%), was recruited from elementary and junior high schools of the public and private sector, in the capital of Athens, Greece. Along with the Peer Relation Questionnaire, the Stress in Children questionnaire and a structured inquiry regarding satisfaction from various aspects of life were used to assess the criterion validity of the Peer Relation Questionnaire. Results revealed good psychometric properties of the questionnaire in the Greek language. The principal component analysis resulted in two subscales that demonstrated an adequate internal consistency and a significant correlation with stress and satisfaction parameters, suggesting satisfying criterion validity. Meaningful associations between demographic characteristics and the subscales were also found. The Greek version of the Peer Relation Questionnaire-short form can be used as a valid tool to measure bullying behaviour in children and adolescents.

Cortisol Reactivity as a Mediator of Peer Victimization on Child Internalizing and Externalizing Problems: The Role of Gender Differences

Children exposed to peer victimization are at increased risk for psychopathology. However, the physiological mechanisms linking peer victimization to child psychopathology and the potential gender differences in these links remain inadequately understood. The present study examined whether cortisol reactivity to acute stress mediated the associations between relational and physical victimization and internalizing and externalizing problems and whether these associations differed between boys and girls. A sample of 150 Chinese children (aged 9-13 years; M_age = 10.69 years; 51% boys) reported experiences of relational and physical victimization and participated in a standardized laboratory psychosocial stress task, during which six salivary cortisol samples were collected. Parents or primary caregivers reported their children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Overall, neither physical nor relational victimization was associated with cortisol reactivity. However, when examined separately by gender, relational victimization was associated with blunted cortisol reactivity for boys but not for girls. Further, among boys but not girls, relational victimization was indirectly associated with internalizing and externalizing problems via blunted cortisol reactivity. Our findings suggest that blunted cortisol reactivity may serve as a physiological pathway linking peer victimization to psychopathology for boys but not for girls.

Stress in the onset and aggravation of learning disabilities

Despite substantial grounds for such research, the role of chronic exposure to stressors in the onset and aggravation of learning disabilities (LDs) is largely unexplored. In this review, we first consider the hormonal, (epi)genetic, and neurobiological mechanisms that might underlie the impact of adverse childhood experiences, a form of chronic stressors, on the onset of LDs. We then found that stress factors combined with feelings of inferiority, low self-esteem, and peer victimization could potentially further aggravate academic failures in children with LDs. Since effective evidence-based interventions for reducing chronic stress in children with LDs could improve their academic performance, consideration of the role of exposure to stressors in children with LDs has both theoretical and practical importance, especially when delivered in combination with academic interventions.

The differential calibration of the HPA axis as a function of trauma versus adversity: A systematic review and p-curve meta-analyses

Although there is an abundance of evidence linking the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to adverse early-life experiences, the precise nature of the association remains unclear. Some evidence suggests early-life adversity leads to cortisol hyper-reactivity, while other evidence suggests adversity leads to cortisol hypo-reactivity. Here, we distinguish between trauma and adversity, and use p-curves to interrogate the conflicting literature. In Study 1, trauma was operationalized according to DSM-5 criteria; the p-curve analysis included 68 articles and revealed that the literature reporting associations between trauma and blunted cortisol reactivity contains evidential value. Study 2 examined the relationship between adversity and cortisol reactivity. Thirty articles were included in the analysis, and p-curve demonstrated that adversity is related to heightened cortisol reactivity. These results support an inverted U-shaped function relating severity of adversity and cortisol reactivity, and underscore the importance of distinguishing between "trauma" and "adversity".

Classroom Status Hierarchy Moderates the Association between Social Dominance Goals and Bullying Behavior in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence

Social dominance goals represent desires to be powerful and prominent among peers. Previous studies have documented that endorsing social dominance goals is positively associated with bullying behavior. However, little is known about how classroom context moderates the social dominance goals-bullying association. The present study examined the role of classroom status hierarchy in the longitudinal association between social dominance goals and bullying in a sample of 1,603 children attending 17 grade 3 classrooms (n = 558, 46.2% girls, M_age = 9.33 years, SD = 0.44), 15 grade 4 classrooms (n = 491, 45.0% girls, M_age = 10.31 years, SD = 0.38) and 16 grade 7 classrooms (n = 554, 49.3% girls, M_age = 13.2 years, SD = 0.46) in China, followed for 1 year. Classroom peer status hierarchy was assessed by the within-classroom standard deviation in perceived popularity. Social dominance goals were obtained through self-reports. Bullying was measured via peer nomination. The multilevel models revealed that social dominance goals at Wave 1 predicted increases in bullying at Wave 2 only in classrooms with higher status hierarchies, after controlling for gender, grade, classroom size, and classroom gender distribution. These findings indicate that children who strive for social dominance goals are more likely to bully others when power is less equally distributed in the classroom.

Future Directions in Peer Relations Research

Peer relationships among youth have been examined as predictors of mental health outcomes for at least fifty years, revealing dozens of discrete peer constructs that each are associated with adjustment in childhood, adolescence, and later in adulthood. Future research may benefit by examining a range of new outcomes and psychological processes that have been discussed recently in related literatures. This paper reviews recent research on interpersonal determinants of physical health outcomes, and opportunities for greater examination of 1) peer influence processes toward health risk behaviors; 2) neural correlates of peer adversity; 3) adverse peer experiences that may affect physiological markers of stress response; and 4) immune system markers of peer adversity. Additional future directions include the study of differences in the forms and functions of peer interactions within the digital age.

Minimally-invasive methods for examining biological changes in response to chronic stress: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Nurse researchers are increasingly interested in incorporating biological indicators related to chronic stress, or repeated or constant exposure to psychological stressors. Minimally invasive collection methods may improve access to vulnerable populations.

OBJECTIVE

To map biological indicators measured through minimally invasive methods investigating biological changes in response to chronic stress.

DESIGN, DATA SOURCES, AND METHODS

The paper seeks to answer two questions: What are the characteristics of the minimally-invasive methods used to measure the biological correlates of chronic stress? What are the limitations regarding the use of the minimally-invasive methods and/or biological indicators identified above? Authors completed a scoping review following guidelines from the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension for Scoping Reviews. A literature search was completed in PubMed, PsycINFO, and Scopus. 2518 articles were screened and 145 studies were included. Data were extracted using a standardized extraction tool, compiled, and coded.

RESULTS

Studies included minimally-invasive methods to measure the hypothalamic-adrenal-pituitary axis (N = 173), immune and inflammatory markers (N = 118), and adult neurogenesis (N = 6). Cortisol was most frequently measured (N = 136), usually in saliva (N = 86). Studies included a variety of limitations for the methods and indicators, including concerns about timing and accuracy of collection, frequency of sampling, and controlling for acute stressors.

CONCLUSIONS

Nurse researchers have access to many minimally-invasive methods to measure altered biological processes related to chronic stress. A gap identified by this review is the paucity of minimally-invasive methods for investigating neurogenesis; the measurement of brain derived neurotrophic factor in plasma is a distal proxy and further research is needed to test the response of peripheral levels to psychosocial stress interventions. Additionally, while this scoping review allows nurse researchers to consider possible biological indicators to include in their research, future research is still needed on some of the basic premises of stress research, including agreement on the conceptualization of chronic stress.

The development of stress reactivity and regulation during human development

Adverse experiences during childhood can have long-lasting impacts on physical and mental health. At the heart of most theories of how these effects are transduced into health impacts is the activity of stress-mediating systems, most notably the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis. Here we review the anatomy and physiology of the axis, models of stress and development, the development of the axis prenatally through adolescence, the role of experience and sensitive periods in shaping its regulation, the social regulation of the axis at different points in development, and finally conclude with suggestions for future research. We conclude that it is clear that early adversity sculpts the stress system, but we do not understand which dimensions have the most impact and at what points in early development. It is equally clear that secure attachment relationships buffer the developing stress system; however, the mechanisms of social buffering and how these may change with development are not yet clear. Another critical issue that is not understood is when and for whom adversity will result in hypo- vs hyperactivity of stress-mediating systems. These and other issues are important for advancing our understanding of how early adversity "gets under the skin" and shapes human physical and mental health.