Peer victimization predicts heightened inflammatory reactivity to social stress in cognitively vulnerable adolescents

BackgroundDuring adolescence, peer victimization is a potent type of social stressor that can confer enduring risk for poor mental and physical health. Given recent research implicating inflammation in promoting a variety of serious mental and physical health problems, this study examined the role that peer victimization and cognitive vulnerability (i.e. negative cognitive styles and hopelessness) play in shaping adolescents' pro-inflammatory cytokine responses to an acute social stressor. MethodsAdolescent girls at risk for psychopathology (n=157; M-age=14.73years; SD=1.38) were exposed to a laboratory-based social stressor before and after which we assessed salivary levels of three key pro-inflammatory cytokines - interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 (IL-1), and tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-). ResultsAs hypothesized, adolescents with greater peer victimization exposure exhibited greater increases in IL-6 and IL1- in response to the laboratory-based social stressor. Moreover, for all three cytokines individually, as well as for a combined latent factor of inflammation, peer victimization predicted enhanced inflammatory responding most strongly for adolescents with high levels of hopelessness. ConclusionsThe findings reveal a biological pathway by which peer victimization may interact with cognitive vulnerability to influence health in adolescence.