Citation

Vargas T, Damme KSF, Mittal VA. Schizophr. Res. 2018; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Northwestern University, Department of Psychology, USA; Northwestern University, Department of Psychiatry, USA; Northwestern University, Department of Medical Social Sciences, USA; Northwestern University, Institute for Policy Research, USA; Northwestern University, Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.schres.2018.11.017

PMID

30528926

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Bullying has been shown to increase the risk of developing a psychotic disorder. To date, no studies have examined brain behavior relationships within the context of bullying victimization in clinical high-risk (CHR) youth, a group characterized by both gray and white matter abnormalities. The present study employed multimodal neuroimaging to examine possible neural mechanisms associated with bullying victimization.

METHODS: CHR and healthy volunteers underwent clinical interviews, parent reports and MRI scans. Regions of interest (ROIs) were picked based on sensitivity to environmental stress, including hippocampal, amygdala, and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) structural ROIs, and uncinate fasciculus white matter integrity.

RESULTS: CHR individuals were more exposed to bullying victimization than healthy volunteers, and bullying was associated with depressive symptoms across the whole sample. CHR individuals exhibited smaller volumes in OFC, but not in other ROIs. Increased bullying exposure was associated with lower medial OFC volumes in CHR and HV groups independently.

RESULTS ought to be interpreted as preliminary, as they did not survive correction at the whole brain level.

DISCUSSION: Bullying victimization may affect or be affected by volumetric OFC differences in both healthy and CHR individuals. However, given CHR showed greater exposure to bullying as well as underlying vulnerability (e.g. lower volumes), results also point to etiological clues and novel intervention targets, though future replication is needed in better powered samples.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Bullying; Clinical high risk; DTI; MRI; Orbital frontal cortex