The Time (10/19, Szalavitz) “Healthland” blog reports, “A new study of teenage girls” published online in the journal of Clinical Psychological Science “shows that ‘targeted rejection,’ in which students are singled out for taunting or personally rejected by a friend, can have measurable effects on the immune system.” In their study of 147 young women aged 15 to 19, investigators “found that girls who had recently been targeted for rejection — which can include everything from bullying and ostracizing to being ‘dropped’ by a peer group or friend — had higher levels of substances indicating activation of genes that produce two specific inflammatory proteins, nuclear factor kappa-beta and inhibitor of kappa-beta.” According to the blog, “If sustained, these changes can increase risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke, mental illness and some cancers later in life, even among those considered to be at the top of the teen social hierarchy.”
Related Links:
— “How Teen Rejection Can Lead to Chronic Disease Later in Life,”Maia Szalavitz, TIME, October 18, 2012.