The Interplay of Peer Victimization and Parasympathetic Nervous System Activity on Acute Inflammatory Stress Responses in Adolescence.

Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol

Department of Developmental, Personality, and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, Ghent, 9000, Belgium.

Published: May 2024

This study examined the extent to which adolescent peer victimization predicted acute inflammatory responses to stress, and whether both resting parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity and PNS stress reactivity moderated this association. 83 adolescents (M = 14.89, SD = 0.52, 48% female) reported their history of peer victimization and were exposed to a standardized social stress task before and after which dried blood spot samples were collected to assay inflammatory markers. Inflammatory responses to the stress task were assessed with a latent inflammatory change factor using the cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). PNS functioning, indexed by high-frequency heart rate variability, was measured at rest and during the stressor. Contrary to hypotheses, analyses revealed no direct relation between peer victimization and acute inflammatory responses, and resting PNS activity did not moderate this association. However, peer victimization predicted stronger inflammatory responses among adolescents with weaker PNS reactivity to the stress task (b = 0.63, p = .02). This association was not observed among adolescents with stronger PNS reactivity, for whom a negative but non-significant trend was found. Weaker PNS reactivity may thus indicate victimized adolescents' vulnerability for acute inflammatory responses, whereas stronger PNS reactivity may indicate adolescents' resilience to a social stressor.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10802-023-01156-8DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

peer victimization
20
inflammatory responses
20
acute inflammatory
16
pns reactivity
16
stress task
12
parasympathetic nervous
8
nervous system
8
inflammatory
8
victimization predicted
8
responses stress
8

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!