Grant: Project Grant

In Canada, up to a third of girls and boys are bullied by their peers. Depression symptoms are the most frequently reported consequence for bullying victims. For some, these negative consequences persist into young adulthood and beyond. Chronic peer victimization in school also increases the risk of revictimization in other contexts (e.g., in college, at work or in dating relationships) later in life. Adverse experiences such as peer victimization are thought to trigger lasting changes in how our brain works and the way our body responds to stress. However, the extent to which these neural and physiological responses are involved in explaining the long-term effects of peer victimization on mental and social health problems in emerging adulthood is still poorly understood. Equally important is the identification of factors that can protect against disrupted neural and physiological responses and long-term health problems in adulthood. To address these issues, we will use a genetically informed design involving 425 twin pairs who were regularly followed since birth until age 20. We propose to build on this rich data set with a new data collection in young adulthood (age 25) to examine participants' brain reactivity as well as their cardiac and hormonal responses during exposure to socially challenging and stressful lab tasks. Current depression symptoms as well as current victimization experiences and social support will also be assessed. An overarching aim will be to investigate possible sex- and gender-related differences in these associations. This research project will contribute to our understanding of how the well-known differences in depression and victimization rates between adult women and men develop. It will also offer important information about protective factors that can be used by health professionals to promote a healthy transition to adulthood for female and male victims of school bullying.