Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2022 Dec;63(12):1622-1630. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13647. Epub 2022 Jun 7.
Peer connections in school classrooms play an important role in social-emotional development and mental health. However, research on the association between children's peer relationships and white matter connections in the brain is scarce. We studied associations between peer relationships in the classroom and white matter structural connectivity in a pediatric population-based sample.
Bullying and victimization, as well as rejection and acceptance, were assessed in classrooms in 634 children at age 7. White matter microstructure (fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD)) was measured with diffusion tensor imaging at age 10. We examined global metrics of white matter microstructure and used Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) for voxel-wise associations.
Peer victimization was associated with higher global FA and lower global MD and peer rejection was associated with lower global MD; however, these associations did not remain after multiple testing correction. Voxel-wise TBSS results for peer victimization and rejection were in line with global metrics both in terms of direction and spatial extent of the associations, with associated voxels (p <.05) observed throughout the brain (including corpus callosum, corona radiata, sagittal stratum and superior longitudinal fasciculi).
Although based only on cross-sectional data, the findings could indicate accelerated white matter microstructure maturation in certain brain areas of children who are victimized or rejected more often. However, repeated measurements are essential to unravel this complex interplay of peer connections, maturation and brain development over time.
学校课堂中的同伴关系对社会情感发展和心理健康起着重要作用。然而，关于儿童同伴关系与大脑白质连接之间的关联的研究还很少。我们研究了基于人群的儿科样本中课堂同伴关系与大脑白质结构连接之间的关联。
在 634 名 7 岁儿童的课堂上评估了欺凌和受害情况，以及排斥和接纳情况。在 10 岁时通过弥散张量成像测量白质微观结构（各向异性分数（FA）、平均弥散度（MD））。我们检查了白质微观结构的全局指标，并使用基于体素的空间统计学（TBSS）进行了体素级关联分析。
同伴受害与更高的全局 FA 和更低的全局 MD 相关，而同伴拒绝与更低的全局 MD 相关；然而，在进行多次测试校正后，这些关联不再存在。同伴受害和拒绝的 TBSS 结果在方向和关联的空间范围上与全局指标一致，相关体素（p<0.05）在整个大脑中都有观察到（包括胼胝体、放射冠、矢状层和胼胝体上纵束）。
尽管仅基于横断面数据，但这些发现可能表明，经常遭受欺凌或被排斥的儿童的某些大脑区域的白质微观结构成熟加速。然而，为了揭示同伴关系、成熟和大脑发育随时间的复杂相互作用，需要进行重复测量。
