University of the Sunshine Coast researchers have shown, for the first time in Australia, what happens in the brain of adolescent girls when they see someone being subjected to body image-related cyberbullying (BRC).
The study used functional MRI to measure which parts of the brain were activated in girls aged 14-18, when they read social media comments attacking people's body weight, shape or size.
Lead author Taliah Prince, a PhD candidate at UniSC's Thompson Institute, said the findings shed new light on the emotional and cognitive impacts of cyberbullying.
"We saw significantly increased responses in areas of the brain tied to emotional regulation, visual processing, and social cognition," Ms Prince said.
"We also saw that among those who had recently experienced cyberbullying, viewing BRC content triggered responses in areas related to memory and visual attention, suggesting they could have been reliving their own bullying experiences.
"Interestingly, girls who didn't report suffering body dissatisfaction showed greater activation in brain areas that regulate reward and emotion. This may act as a protective mechanism against the negative impacts of cyberbullying."
61 percent of girls in the study reported a recent experience with cyberbullying, while more than 90 percent said they had encountered it in the past.
More than 30 percent also reported dissatisfaction with their body.
While much of the research on this form of cyberbullying has focused on victims and perpetrators, Ms Prince said this study was the first to explore the impact on bystanders.
"Previous research has shown that exposure to such bullying can contribute to increased body dissatisfaction. Our study sheds light on the brain mechanisms involved," she said.
Body image-related cyberbullying falls under the umbrella of appearance-related cyberbullying (ARC), which is the most common form of cyberbullying among adolescent girls.
A previous study from the Thompson Institute found that 96 percent of ARC victims wanted to change their appearance as a result, while 81 percent expressed a desire to undergo cosmetic procedures.
"This study expands on those findings, showing that cyberbullying impacts not only psychological wellbeing, but also neural responses," Ms Prince said.
"Adolescence is a vulnerable time, especially for girls. They're developing a sense of self, are increasingly concerned with their appearance, and have heightened social sensitivity to interactions with their peers. Appearance-related cyberbullying feeds into all of these," she said.
"This research demonstrates the need to promote body positivity and acceptance among adolescent girls - which we've seen might act as a buffer to appearance-related cyberbullying - as well as continuing to improve their digital literacy.
"It also highlights the need to continue conversations about what role social media should have in the lives of young people, and whether stricter guidelines or restrictions are warranted."
