Experimental investigations of social exclusion among adolescents with psychiatric disorders: a systematic review.

Abstract

Social exclusion is a form of bullying that can lead to various negative consequences, and even extreme forms of violence. Certain groups, such as people with poor mental health and adolescents, are particularly vulnerable. This paper features a systematic review of experiments that investigated the impact of social exclusion on adolescents with psychiatric disorders. Experiments were searched via: PubMed, Web of Science, PsycInfo, ERIC, Cochrane, and a manual search. The search yielded 174 experiments, and 12 remained after screening. These met the inclusion criteria, which included: having an empirical design, participants aged 10-19, and a clinical sample with at least one psychiatric disorder. Among the clinical samples, the most common disorder was depression, featured in seven experiments. The most common paradigm was Cyberball. Results showed that social exclusion impacts adolescents with psychiatric disorders differently than inclusion (e.g., leading to a more negative mood). However, the difference in the impact of social exclusion on adolescents with vs. without psychiatric disorders was only conclusive via fMRI measurements. Compared to healthy controls, adolescents with psychiatric disorders seem to display altered neural reactivity during social exclusion. Based on identified research gaps, future studies are needed to explore the impact of social exclusion on adolescents with a wider range of psychiatric disorders. Other recommendations are included, such as a brain region checklist for future experiments using fMRI.