HMN 2025: how physique picture bullying impacts teenage women’ brains

University of the Sunshine Coast researchers have proven, for the primary time in Australia, what occurs within the mind of adolescent women once they see somebody being subjected to physique image-related cyberbullying (BRC).

The study, now revealed in NeuroImage, used purposeful MRI to measure which components of the mind have been activated in women aged 14–18, once they learn social media feedback attacking folks’s physique weight, form or measurement.

Lead creator Taliah Prince, a Ph.D. candidate at UniSC’s Thompson Institute, stated the findings shed new gentle on the emotional and cognitive impacts of cyberbullying.

“We noticed considerably elevated responses in areas of the mind tied to emotional regulation, visible processing, and social cognition,” Prince stated. “We additionally noticed that amongst those that had not too long ago skilled cyberbullying, viewing BRC content material triggered responses in areas associated to reminiscence and visible consideration, suggesting they may have been reliving their very own bullying experiences.

“Interestingly, women who did not report struggling physique dissatisfaction confirmed higher activation in mind areas that regulate reward and emotion. This could act as a protecting mechanism in opposition to the destructive impacts of cyberbullying.”

In the review, 61% of women reported a latest {experience} with cyberbullying, whereas greater than 90% stated they’d encountered it previously. More than 30% additionally reported dissatisfaction with their physique.

While a lot of the analysis on this type of cyberbullying has targeted on victims and perpetrators, Prince stated this study was the primary to discover the influence on bystanders.

“Previous analysis has proven that publicity to such bullying can contribute to elevated physique dissatisfaction. Our study sheds gentle on the mind mechanisms concerned,” she stated.

Body image-related cyberbullying falls beneath the umbrella of appearance-related cyberbullying (ARC), which is the commonest type of cyberbullying amongst adolescent women.

A earlier study from the Thompson Institute discovered that 96% of ARC victims wished to vary their look because of this, whereas 81% expressed a need to endure beauty procedures.

“This study expands on these findings, displaying that cyberbullying impacts not solely psychological well-being, but in addition neural responses,” Prince stated. “Adolescence is a weak time, particularly for ladies. They’re growing a way of self, are more and more involved with their look, and have heightened social sensitivity to interactions with their friends. Appearance-related cyberbullying feeds into all of those.”

“This analysis demonstrates the necessity to promote physique positivity and acceptance amongst adolescent women—which we have seen may act as a buffer to appearance-related cyberbullying—in addition to persevering with to enhance their digital literacy. It additionally highlights the necessity to proceed conversations about what position social media ought to have within the lives of younger folks, and whether or not stricter pointers or restrictions are warranted.”