Bullying victimization and brain development: a longitudinal structural magnetic resonance imaging study from adolescence to early adulthood
Autor(in); Institution
Connaughton, Michael; Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, IRELAND
Mitchell, Orla; Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, IRELAND
Cullen, Emer; Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, IRELAND
O’Connor, Michael; Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, IRELAND
Banaschewski, Tobias; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, Mannheim, GERMANY
Barker, Gareth J.; Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
Bokde, Arun L. W.; Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, IRELAND
Desrivières, Sylvane; Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
Flor, Herta; Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, Mannheim, GERMANY
Garavan, Hugh; Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA
Gowland, Penny; Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK
Grigis, Antoine; NeuroSpin, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, FRANCE
Heinz, Andreas; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, GERMANY
Lemaitre, Herve; NeuroSpin, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, FRANCE
Martinot, Jean-Luc; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherce Médicale, INSERM U A10 "Trajectoires développementales & psychiatrie", University Paris-Saclay, Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, CNRS; Centre Borelli, Gif-sur-Yvette, FRANCE
Martinot, Marie-Laure Paillère; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherce Médicale, INSERM U A10 "Trajectoires développementales & psychiatrie", University Paris-Saclay, Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, CNRS; Centre Borelli, Gif-sur-Yvette, FRANCE
Artiges, Eric; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherce Médicale, INSERM U A10 "Trajectoires développementales & psychiatrie", University Paris-Saclay, Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, CNRS; Centre Borelli, Gif-sur-Yvette, FRANCE
Nees, Frauke; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, Mannheim, GERMANY
Orfanos, Dimitri Papadopoulos; Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, GERMANY
Poustka, Luise; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, GERMANY
Smolka, Michael N.; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GERMANY
Hohmann, Sarah; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, Mannheim, GERMANY
Holz, Nathalie; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, Mannheim, GERMANY
Vaidya, Nilakshi; Centre for Population Neuroscience and Stratified Medicine (PONS), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, GERMANY
Walter, Henrik; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, GERMANY
Schumann, Gunter; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GERMANY
Whelan, Robert; School of Psychology and Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, IRELAND
Roddy, Darren; Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, IRELAND
This study investigated associations between bullying victimization and brain development using longitudinal structural MRI data from the IMAGEN cohort (n = 2094; 1009 females) across three time points (∼14, ∼19, and ∼22 years). A data-driven analysis revealed that higher bullying victimization was significantly associated with accelerated volumetric growth in subcortical and limbic regions, including the putamen (β = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.10-0.15), amygdala (β = 0.07, 95% CI: 0.05-0.09), hippocampus (β = 0.06, 95% CI: 0.04-0.08), and anterior cingulate cortex (caudal: β = 0.05, 95% CI: 0.03-0.07; rostral: β = 0.06, 95% CI: 0.04-0.08). In contrast, bullying victimization was also significantly associated with reduced volumetric growth in the cerebellum (β = -0.09, 95% CI: -0.11 to -0.07), entorhinal cortex (β = -0.10, 95% CI: -0.13 to -0.07), and insula (β = -0.08, 95% CI: -0.11 to -0.06). Exploratory analyses indicated that females exhibited more pronounced changes in emotional processing regions, while males showed greater changes in motor and sensory areas. Overall, the findings indicate that bullying victimization is associated with widespread structural differences in brain development from adolescence to early adulthood, with sex-specific trajectories.
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Rechteinformation
CC BY 4.0 ; Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
Zitierung
Connaughton, M., Mitchell, O., Cullen, E., O’Connor, M., Banaschewski, T., Barker, G. J., Bokde, A. L. W., Brühl, R., Desrivières, S., Flor, H., Garavan, H., Gowland, P., Grigis, A., Heinz, A., Lemaitre, H., Martinot, J.-L., Martinot, M.-L. P., Artiges, E., Nees, F., Orfanos, D. P., Poustka, L., Smolka, M. N., Hohmann, S., Holz, N., Vaidya, N., Walter, H., Schumann, G., Whelan, R., & Roddy, D. (2026). Bullying victimization and brain development: a longitudinal structural magnetic resonance imaging study from adolescence to early adulthood. Translational Psychiatry, 16, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-026-04010-9
