Hurtful Words: Association of Exposure to Peer Verbal Abuse With Elevated Psychiatric Symptom Scores and Corpus Callosum Abnormalities
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OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have shown that exposure to parental verbal abuse in childhood is associated with higher rates of adult psychopathology and alterations in brain structure. In this study the authors sought to examine the symptomatic and neuroanatomic effects, in young adulthood, of exposure to peer verbal abuse during childhood. METHOD: A total of 848 young adults (ages 18-25 years) with no history of exposure to domestic violence, sexual abuse, or parental physical abuse rated their childhood exposure to parental and peer verbal abuse and completed a self-report packet that included the Kellner Symptom Questionnaire, the Limbic Symptom Checklist-33, and the Dissociative Experiences Scale. Diffusion tensor images were collected for a subset of 63 young adults with no history of abuse or exposure to parental verbal abuse selected for varying degrees of exposure to peer verbal abuse. Images were analyzed using tract-based spatial statistics. RESULTS: Analysis of covariance revealed dose-dependent effects of peer verbal abuse on anxiety, depression, anger-hostility, dissociation, "limbic irritability," and drug use. Peer and parental verbal abuse were essentially equivalent in effect size on these ratings. Path analysis indicated that peer verbal abuse during the middle school years had the most significant effect on symptom scores. Degree of exposure to peer verbal abuse correlated with increased mean and radial diffusivity and decreased fractional anisotropy in the corpus callosum and the corona radiata. CONCLUSIONS: These findings parallel results of previous reports of psychopathology associated with childhood exposure to parental verbal abuse and support the hypothesis that exposure to peer verbal abuse is an aversive stimulus associated with greater symptom ratings and meaningful alterations in brain structure.
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Reduction in the volume of both white and grey matter may alter the way the brain processes sensory information to increase the person's vulnerability to psychopathology.
“Reduction in the volume of both the white (Choi et al., 2012) and grey matter (Teicher et al., 2010) may alter the way the brain processes sensory information to increase the person's vulnerability to psychopathology.”
From A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON THE IMPACT OF EXPOSURE TO INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH (2014) · cites this paper as Teicher et al., 2010
The Discussion (page unavailable) reports reduced gray-matter volume in the visual cortex after childhood sexual abuse and notes the cortex’s role in sensory perception. It also speculates that early-stress effects on visual-cortex cells or pathways may increase mood-disorder risk, but does not specifically establish that the gray-matter reduction alters sensory processing and thereby increases vulnerability to psychopathology. The white-matter portion is attributed to Choi et al., not to this source. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredVerbal abuse appears to be a powerful modifying factor for neural development in the young brain regardless of whether the child is the target of peer or parental verbal abuse, or witnesses domestic verbal conflicts.
“Although the harmful effects of child maltreatment are typically defined in terms of physical or sexual harassment and emotional neglect, verbal abuse appears to be a powerful modifying factor for neural development in the young brain regardless of whether the child is the target of peer (Teicher et al., 2010) or parental (Choi et al., 2012) verbal abuse, or witnesses domestic verbal conflicts (Ch”
From A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON THE IMPACT OF EXPOSURE TO INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH (2014) · cites this paper as Teicher et al., 2010
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- Authors
- Teicher, M. H., Samson, J. A., Sheu, Y.-S., Polcari, A., & McGreenery, C. E.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Venue
- American Journal of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2010-12
- Volume
- 167
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1464-1471
- ISSN
- 0002-953X (ISSN-L)
- 1535-7228
- PMC
- PMC3246683
- OpenAlex
- W2168953947
- Cited by
- 211
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 14.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- American Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (1r01mh091391-01, 5r01da017846-14)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH-091391, R01 MH-66222, R01MH066222)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA-017846, R01DA016934)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- parental verbal abuse, psychiatric symptoms, anxiety, depression, anger-hostility, dissociation, substance use, corpus callosum, corona radiata, white matter microstructure, young adults, junior high school
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Mental Disorders, Corpus Callosum, Female, Humans, Male, Parents, Peer Group, Anisotropy, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Bullying
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