2-187 - The Shaping of Environmental Social Stressors on Child and Adolescent Emotion-, Stress- and Self-Regulation

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Psychosocial stress during childhood and adolescence is a risk factor for the development of psychiatric problems later on. The underlying neuropsychological mechanisms are yet unclear. Environmental stressors, such as peer rejection or bullying victimization, are thought to impact self-esteem and monopolize executive function, leading to a temporary state of cognitive deconstruction (Williams, 2007). This cognitive deconstruction is thought to impede the self-regulation abilities of humans. In parallel, social stressors may lead to epigenetic modifications (Meaney, 2010), resulting in altered stress regulation. This symposium will adhere to these hypothesized pathways by presenting studies on the impact of social environmental stressors on emotion, stress- and self-regulation, thereby making youths susceptible for developing and psychiatric problems.
In a first study the impact of chronic rejection across elementary school on changes in self-esteem discrepancies and anger responses after social exclusion is explored among Dutch children. The second study focused on the association of victimization experiences across adolescence with cognitive decision-making and response inhibition, in a population sample of adolescents. A third study explored the impact of daily life stress on brain responses in neurocognitive tasks in an fMRI study among American adolescents. The last study explored the impact of bully-victimization on epigenetic modifications of stress-related genes and HPA-axis stress responses in a sample of British monozygotic twins, discordant on bully-victimization during elementary school.
This multidisciplinary symposium will contribute to the understanding of how psychoneural and epigenetic pathways leading to maladjustment are impacted by psychosocial stress in childhood and adolescence.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chairs

• Susanne Koot, Vu University Amsterdam

• Pol van Lier, Vu University Amsterdam

Individual Presentations

• Chronic Peer Rejection and Impact of Cyberball Exclusion on Children’s Self-Esteem Discrepancies and Emotional Responses - Presenting Author: Franca Leeuwis, 1) Department of Developmental Psychology, VU University Amsterdam; Hans M Koot, Vu University Amsterdam; Reinout Wiers, 2) Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam; Pol van Lier, Vu University Amsterdam

• The Effect of Victimization on Decision-making in Adolescents - Presenting Author: Susanne Koot, Vu University Amsterdam; Hans M Koot, Vu University Amsterdam; Lucres Jansen, VU University Medical Center, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Duivendrecht, The Netherlands; Susan J.T. Branje, Utrecht University; Wim Meeus, Utrecht University; Pol van Lier, Vu University Amsterdam

• The Effects of Psychosocial Stress on Neurocognitive and Neurobiological Development During Adolescence - Presenting Author: Adriana Galván, University of California

• Neuroendocrine Reactivity to Stress and Methylation as Potential Mechanisms to Explain Behavioral Problems Among Bullied Children - Presenting Author: Isabelle Ouellet-Morin, Univ of Montreal; Louise Arseneault, King's College London