Associations Between Peer Victimization and Distinct Neural Responses to Acceptance and Rejection in Early Adolescence

• In Event: Developmental psychophysiology and developmental psychopathology: Temporal and contextual considerations

Abstract

Peer victimization has been associated both with alterations in neural responses to peer feedback and with increased vulnerability to multiple forms of psychopathology, especially during the critical developmental period of early adolescence. However, the source of information about peer victimization varies between studies. Moreover, it is unclear whether the effects of peer victimization on neural responses are global, or might result in alterations only in specific neural measures. Thus, we sought to examine the associations between multiple sources of reported peer victimization as well as distinct indices of neural responses to social acceptance and rejection. Forty-six participants aged 12-13 participated in a school-based study on victimization, in which we collected self-reports of peer victimization, parent-reported victimization, and peer-nominated victimization. To measure neural response, EEG data was collected in a lab during a social interaction task (Island Getaway) with virtual peer acceptance and rejection conditions. We examined four event-related potential (ERP) components: the rejection-sensitive N1, and components sensitive to social acceptance (social reward): the P2, reward positivity (RewP), and the late positive potential (LPP). A correlation matrix of peer victimization reports revealed only moderate agreement between different informants. We subsequently conducted a multivariate regression using victimization reports and gender to predict ERPs. The rejection-sensitive N1 was not significantly associated with any measure of peer victimization. However, peer victimization was significantly associated with multiple indices of neural responses to peer acceptance. Greater parent-reported peer victimization was associated with a smaller RewP following peer acceptance, while self-reported peer victimization was associated with a smaller P2. In contrast, and contrary to our predictions, greater peer nominated peer victimization was associated with larger P2, RewP, and LPP following acceptance feedback. These findings not only suggest that peer victimization shows distinct associations with different neural responses to peer feedback, but also that variability in different sources of victimization measurement changes the direction of these associations. Thus, future research using reward-related ERPs should consider both multiple sources of information as well as multiple ERP components across the time-course of feedback processing, to gain a clearer understanding of the effects of victimization on neural responses to peer feedback in adolescence.

Authors

• Lidia YX Panier, McGill University
  Presenting Author

• Paige Ethridge, McGill University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Claire Punturieri, McGill University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alison Farrell-Reeves, McGill University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Melanie A Dirks, McGill University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anna Weinberg, McGill University
  Non-Presenting Author