# Reward motivations associated with bullying trajectories

> **NIH NIH K99** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $119,611

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Bullying is the most common form of youth abuse world-wide and is linked to profound, lasting, deleterious effects
to psychological, social, academic and health functioning. The cascading effects of bullying costs the US billions
of dollars annually, and current interventions produce only modest improvements. Longitudinal examinations of
the course of bullying show that behaviors vary over childhood, though early perpetration is thought to be a
particularly troubling predictor of continued antisocial behavior. A recent bullying intervention targeting altered
reward processes, specifically a preference for relative rewards (e.g. those earned at the expense of others)
shows promise. However, how trajectories of bullying relate to altered reward processing, and how perpetrators
process relative rewards in comparison to absolute rewards (e.g. money or points earned) is currently unknown.
Explicating the biobehavioral reward mechanisms contributing to bully perpetration may allow for the design and
implementation of more biologically-informed, empirically-supported interventions that can provide greater
reductions in bullying. The goal of this K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award is to provide the applicant with
the training in longitudinal data analysis techniques to explain how trajectories of bullying relates to altered
reward processes, as well as training in designing fMRI tasks to identify altered reward mechanisms
related to bullying. Additionally, a primary focus of my training will be to conducting bullying research
translatable to intervention programming, by working with my co-mentor in interfacing with multiple agency
stakeholders involved in youth violence and maltreatment. To achieve these goals, I have assembled a
committee that will provide unparalleled mentorship, whom have extensive backgrounds in longitudinally
modelling youth behaviors (Drs. Barch, Jonson-Reid, Jackson, Luby, and Vaillancourt), designing fMRI tasks for
youth that assay specific mechanisms (Drs. Barch and Sylvester), and who have experience leveraging findings
from research into feasible interventions with broad cross-level (youth, parent, school, agency) buy-in (Drs.
Jonson-Reid, Barch, Luby, Vaillancourt, and Glenn). These training goals will allow me to test predictions about
trajectories of bullying in relation to absolute reward processing and pilot tasks capable of assessing
relative and absolute reward preference during the K99 phase. Results learned from this will inform the R00,
where I will test whether trajectories of bullying predict preference for relative vs. absolute rewards and
if bullying predicts increased neural response to relative vs. absolute rewards. Results from this proposal
will clarify reward processing alterations related to bullying, examine specificity to other behavioral problems,
and examine relative reward preference in relation to other explanations of bullying, setting the stage for the
testing of an intervention ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10383749
- **Project number:** 5K99HD105002-02
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael T Perino
- **Activity code:** K99 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $119,611
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-04-05 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10383749

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10383749, Reward motivations associated with bullying trajectories (5K99HD105002-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10383749. Licensed CC0.

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