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. 2016 Aug 26:7:1197.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01197. eCollection 2016.

Executive Functions in Children Who Experience Bullying Situations

Wandersonia Medeiros  1 , Nelson Torro-Alves  2 , Leandro F Malloy-Diniz  3 , Carla M Minervino  4
Affiliations

Executive Functions in Children Who Experience Bullying Situations

Wandersonia Medeiros et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Bullying is characterized by intentional, repetitive, and persistent aggressive behavior that causes damage to the victim. Many studies investigate the social and emotional aspects related to bullying, but few assess the cognitive aspects it involves. Studies with aggressive individuals indicate impairment in executive functioning and decision-making. The objective of this study was to assess hot and cold executive functions in children who experience bullying. A total of 60 children between 10 and 11 years of age were included in the study. They were divided into four groups: aggressors (bullies), victims, bully-victims, and control. Tests for decision-making, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility were used. The bully group made more unfavorable choices on the Iowa Gambling Task, which may indicate difficulties in the decision-making process. The victim group took longer to complete the Trail Making Test (Part B) than aggressors, suggesting lower cognitive flexibility in victims. The hypothesis that aggressors would have lower performance in other executive functions such as inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility has not been confirmed. This study indicates that bullies have an impairment of hot executive functions whereas victims have a comparatively lower performance in cold executive functions. In addition to social and cultural variables, neurocognitive and emotional factors seem to influence the behavior of children in bullying situations.

Keywords: aggressive behavior; bullying; cognitive flexibility; decision-making; executive function.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Time, in seconds, on the Trail Making Test Part B (TMT-B). ∗Significant difference for the victim group compared to the bully group (p = 0.001).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Time, in seconds, on the Stroop Color-Word Test. ∗Significant difference for the bully group compared to victim (p = 0.006) and bully-victim (p = 0.006).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Average of choices from decks A, B, C, and D on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). ∗Significant difference for the bully group compared to the bully-victim group in Deck A (p = 0.006).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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