Abstract #2641

Bullying is associated with reduced cognitive scores and altered brain morphometry over time in preadolescent children.

Miriam S Menken¹, Pedro Rodriguez Rivera¹, Amal Isaiah^2,3, Thomas Ernst¹, Christine C Cloak¹, and Linda Chang^1,4,5

¹Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ²Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ³Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ⁴Neurology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ⁵Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States

Synopsis

Few studies identified brain morphometric changes associated with peer-victimization (“being bullied”), and no study examined how these changes can mediate the relationship between bullying and cognition. Using T1-weighted MRI scans and cognitive test scores from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development longitudinal dataset, we found that bullying is associated with reduced cognitive performance over time. Bullied children had smaller putamen volumes and right insula surface areas, thinner left precentral and banks of superior temporal sulcus cortices, but larger left entorhinal and right pars orbitalis surface areas. Importantly, these altered brain measures partially mediated the relationship between bullying and cognitive scores.

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