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Peer victimization predicts heightened inflammatory reactivity to social stress in cognitively vulnerable adolescents
Author(s) -
Giletta Matteo,
Slavich George M.,
Rudolph Karen D.,
Hastings Paul D.,
Nock Matthew K.,
Prinstein Mitchell J.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/jcpp.12804
Subject(s) - peer victimization , psychology , stressor , psychopathology , social stress , mental health , cognition , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , vulnerability (computing) , cognitive vulnerability , protective factor , social defeat , peer group , social cognitive theory , poison control , injury prevention , psychiatry , medicine , depressive symptoms , computer security , environmental health , neuroscience , computer science
Background During adolescence, peer victimization is a potent type of social stressor that can confer enduring risk for poor mental and physical health. Given recent research implicating inflammation in promoting a variety of serious mental and physical health problems, this study examined the role that peer victimization and cognitive vulnerability (i.e. negative cognitive styles and hopelessness) play in shaping adolescents’ pro‐inflammatory cytokine responses to an acute social stressor. Methods Adolescent girls at risk for psychopathology ( n = 157; M age = 14.73 years; SD = 1.38) were exposed to a laboratory‐based social stressor before and after which we assessed salivary levels of three key pro‐inflammatory cytokines – interleukin‐6 ( IL ‐6), interleukin‐1β ( IL ‐1β), and tumor necrosis factor‐α ( TNF ‐α). Results As hypothesized, adolescents with greater peer victimization exposure exhibited greater increases in IL ‐6 and IL 1‐β in response to the laboratory‐based social stressor. Moreover, for all three cytokines individually, as well as for a combined latent factor of inflammation, peer victimization predicted enhanced inflammatory responding most strongly for adolescents with high levels of hopelessness. Conclusions The findings reveal a biological pathway by which peer victimization may interact with cognitive vulnerability to influence health in adolescence.