Roberts Ellie, Francesconi Marta, Flouri Eirini
Department of Arts and Sciences, University College London, Malet Place, London, NW1 6AP, UK.
Department of Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, University College London, 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL, UK.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2025 Mar 17. doi: 10.1007/s00127-025-02836-0.
Peer victimisation, often a serious childhood stressor, has been associated with poor cognitive outcomes. The current study sought to uncover whether peer victimisation is associated with poor cognitive functioning in childhood via inflammation.
Data from 4583 participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were analysed. Path analysis was conducted to determine whether inflammation, measured using IL-6 and CRP levels (age 9), mediates the effects of peer victimisation (age 8), even after controlling for other stressors, on multiple cognitive outcomes, including working memory (age 10), reading (accuracy, speed, and comprehension) (age 9), spelling (age 9), response inhibition (age 10), attentional control (age 11), and selective attention (age 11).
IL-6 and CRP partially mediated the effects of peer victimisation on working memory, reading accuracy, and selective attention. IL-6 partially mediated the effect of peer victimisation on reading comprehension, while CRP partially mediated the effect of peer victimisation on reading speed. All effects were small. Inflammation did not mediate the effects of peer victimisation on spelling, response inhibition or attentional control.
Peer victimisation may impact on some aspects of children's cognitive functioning via inflammation. The cognitive outcome specificity observed warrants further research.
同伴欺侮通常是一种严重的童年应激源，与不良认知结果相关。当前研究旨在揭示同伴欺侮是否通过炎症反应与儿童期认知功能不良相关。
对埃文父母与儿童纵向研究（ALSPAC）中4583名参与者的数据进行分析。进行路径分析以确定即使在控制其他应激源后，使用白细胞介素-6（IL-6）和C反应蛋白（CRP）水平（9岁时）测量的炎症反应是否介导同伴欺侮（8岁时）对多种认知结果的影响，这些认知结果包括工作记忆（10岁时）、阅读（准确性、速度和理解能力）（9岁时）、拼写（9岁时）、反应抑制（10岁时）、注意力控制（11岁时）和选择性注意力（11岁时）。
IL-6和CRP部分介导了同伴欺侮对工作记忆、阅读准确性和选择性注意力的影响。IL-6部分介导了同伴欺侮对阅读理解的影响，而CRP部分介导了同伴欺侮对阅读速度的影响。所有影响都较小。炎症反应并未介导同伴欺侮对拼写、反应抑制或注意力控制的影响。
同伴欺侮可能通过炎症反应影响儿童认知功能的某些方面。观察到的认知结果特异性值得进一步研究。
