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Navigating the social world: The role of social competence, peer victimisation and friendship quality in the development of social anxiety in childhood.

ABSTRACT: Social and communication (SC) difficulties predict increased social anxiety (SA) symptoms in childhood. Peer victimisation and friendship quality are commonly associated with both SC difficulties and SA. Based on this, we tested for a cascade effect of early SC difficulties, peer victimisation and friendship quality on SA in late childhood, using a population-based sample of 8028 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort. Parent-reported data were collected on SC difficulties at age 7 and SA at age 7, 10 and 13. Child-reported data on peer victimisation and friendship quality were collected at age 8. Our results revealed that SC difficulties predict increased negative friendship qualities and peer victimisation. Relational victimisation predicted increased SA symptoms at 13 years old. Neither overt nor relational victimisation mediated the developmental relationship between SC difficulties and SA. Furthermore, friendship quality did not moderate the developmental relationship between SC difficulties and SA. In addition, no sex differences were observed. The evidence demonstrates that peer victimisation and friendship quality do not explain why some children with SC difficulties go on to develop SA. Future research clarifying the complex etiological pathways contributing towards the development of SA in childhood and adolescence is warranted.

SUBMITTER: Pickard H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6269163 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Navigating the social world: The role of social competence, peer victimisation and friendship quality in the development of social anxiety in childhood.

Pickard Hannah H Happé Francesca F Mandy William W

Journal of anxiety disorders 20180915

Social and communication (SC) difficulties predict increased social anxiety (SA) symptoms in childhood. Peer victimisation and friendship quality are commonly associated with both SC difficulties and SA. Based on this, we tested for a cascade effect of early SC difficulties, peer victimisation and friendship quality on SA in late childhood, using a population-based sample of 8028 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort. Parent-reported data were collecte ...[more]

PMID: 30268999

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Project description:Wariness in early childhood manifests as shy, inhibited behavior in novel social situations and is associated with increased risk for developing social anxiety. In youth with childhood wariness, exposure to a potent social stressor, such as peer victimization, may potentiate brain-based sensitivity to unpredictable social contexts, thereby increasing risk for developing social anxiety. To test brain-based associations between early childhood wariness, self-reported peer victimization, and current social anxiety symptoms, we quantified neural responses to different social contexts in low- and high-victimized pre-adolescents with varying levels of early childhood wariness. Measures of early childhood wariness were obtained annually from ages 2-to-7-years. At age 11, participants were characterized as having low (N = 20) or high (N = 27) peer victimization. To index their neural responses to peer evaluation, participants completed an fMRI-based Virtual School paradigm (Jarcho et al. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 13, 21-31, 2013a). In highly victimized, relative to low-victimized participants, wariness was differentially related to right amygdala response based on the valence and predictability of peer evaluation. More specifically, in highly victimized participants, wariness was associated with greater right amygdala response to unpredictably positive peer evaluation. Effects of wariness were not observed in participants who reported low levels of victimization. Moreover, in victimized participants, high wariness and right amygdala response to unpredictably positive peer evaluation was associated with more severe social anxiety symptoms. Results can be interpreted using a diathesis-stress model, which suggests that neural response to unexpectedly positive social feedback is a mechanism by which exposure to peer victimization potentiates the risk for developing social anxiety in individuals exhibiting high levels of early childhood wariness.

Project description:BackgroundEarly-life interpersonal stress, particularly childhood maltreatment, is associated with neurobiological abnormalities. However, few studies have investigated the neural effects of peer victimisation.AimsThis study examines common and specific associations between childhood maltreatment, peer victimisation and brain structural alterations in youths.MethodGrey matter volume (GMV) and cortical thickness data were collected from 105 age- and gender-matched youths (age range: 17-21 years). Region-of-interest and whole-brain analyses were conducted.ResultsFor the region-of-interest analyses, the childhood maltreatment group had smaller GMV than controls in left inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral anterior insula, postcentral and lingual regions, which were associated with greater emotional abuse, along with smaller insular GMV than the peer victimisation group, who had smaller left lingual and postcentral GMV than controls. At the whole-brain level, both childhood maltreatment and peer victimisation groups had smaller GMV than controls in a cluster comprising left post/precentral, inferior frontal gyrus, insula, superior parietal and supramarginal gyri. The peer victimisation group alone had increased cortical thickness in a cluster comprising left superior frontal, anterior cingulate and medial orbitofrontal gyri, which was related to greater cyberbullying.ConclusionsEarly-life interpersonal stress is associated with common structural alterations of the inferior frontal-limbic, sensory and lingual regions involved in cognitive control, emotion and sensory processing. The findings of childhood-maltreatment-related reduced anterior insular GMV and peer-victimisation-related increased cortical thickness in the left medial prefrontal-anterior cingulate cluster underscore the distinctive negative effects of childhood maltreatment and peer victimisation, and suggest that peer victimisation, particularly cyberbullying, could be as detrimental as childhood maltreatment.

Dataset Information

Navigating the social world: The role of social competence, peer victimisation and friendship quality in the development of social anxiety in childhood.

Publications

Navigating the social world: The role of social competence, peer victimisation and friendship quality in the development of social anxiety in childhood.

Similar Datasets

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