Research: Being bullied leaves its mark on a young person’s brain

TEMPTED coming leaves its mark on a young person’s brain, according to an Irish study. In the study, the brains of more than 2,000 young people were imaged at three age stages, 14, 19 and 22 years old.

Alongside the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the young people were asked about their experiences of bullying at school, such as name-calling, being left out and direct physical violence.

Being bullied has a wide-ranging effect on several brain areas, it is said in a pre-published study.

Researchers state that being the target of severe bullying can have an effect to the person’s mental health for years to come after adolescence.

Being bullied at a young age has been linked to later mental health problems, substance abuse and even suicide, summarizes the science magazine presenting the research New Scientist.

of Dublin According to its authors, the university’s research is the most extensive on the subject. Dissertation researcher Michael Connaughtonin the team combined data from a total of 2,094 young people in England, Ireland, France and Germany – with parental permission.

Bullying seemed to affect as many as 49 brain areas.

In particular, the traces of bullying are visible in the areas related to memory, learning, experiencing emotions and controlling movements.

According to Connaughton, what particularly caught the eye in the results was the enlargement of the deeper brain areas under the cerebral cortex. The frontal lobe receives messages from these areas. There, operational planning selects things that need to be reacted to.

Harassment appears in girls’ brains in different ways than boys’. The girls had more obvious changes in, among other things, brain structures related to experiencing emotions and stressful experiences.

It may be due to the fact that girls are subjected to more mental bullying such as exclusion from the circle of friends, Connaughton estimates in New Scientist.

Boys, on the other hand, may be subjected to physical bullying more often than girls. Maybe that’s why changes in boys’ brains are seen in areas related to monitoring the environment and controlling the body.

However, such changes can also be related to the otherwise different development of girls and boys. It is also unclear whether the observed changes in the brain are permanent. The brain changes throughout life, but it is prone to change especially in youth.

in Finland dissertation researcher Birgitta Paranko uses functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how children aged 11–14 react to bullying at school. Participants are watching during imaging videos showing bullying situations and neutral situations in the school world.

Paranko is working Lauri Nummenmaan in the research group at Turku PET Center. He studies the brain’s functional responses to bullying, while recent research focuses on structures.

Based on a quick perusal, Paranko gives credit to Irish research for the scope of the material.

“Based on the results, there is at least a connection between the experiences of being bullied and the changes in brain structures,” summarizes Paranko.

“Deep down are the evolutionarily oldest brain areas, which are related to emotional experiences, for example. It may be that the impulses from deep down are strong, but their control is weaker,” explains neuroscientist Paranko.

If this is the case, the bullied person may have difficulties in regulating their emotions later in life. The frontal lobe with its functional controls is only completed in adulthood, Paranko reminds.

On the other hand, for example, the brain structure related to stress management seems to be partly reduced in those who are bullied. It can interfere with the ability to manage stress. Its disturbances can also increase the risk of depression.