The Impact of Time Since Menarche for Depressive and Anxiety Symptom Severity in Adolescence and Young Adulthood.

PURPOSE: The study mapped depressive and anxiety symptom trajectories throughout adolescence and early adulthood, arrayed by time since menarche, a novel indicator of pubertal change and examined the effect of age of menarche and pubertal timing, more frequently used variables, on depressive and anxiety symptom severity trajectories. METHODS: Secondary analysis of a cross-sequential prospective longitudinal investigation included a community sample of 262 US, adolescent females. Participants were enrolled in age cohorts of 11, 13, 15, and 17 years. Four annual waves of data were collected. Self-report of age at menarche was categorized into pubertal timing categories. A novel measure "time since menarche" (chronological age at each wave minus age at menarche), was measured along with depressive and anxiety symptom severity. Two-piece growth curve modeling with landmark registration examined depressive and anxiety symptom severity trajectories according to time since menarche. RESULTS: There was no change (p > .05) in depression and anxiety symptom severity before menarche; however, in the years leading away from menarche, depression and anxiety symptom severity decreased (p < .05). Age at menarche was not associated with change in depressive and anxiety symptom severity (p > .05) and there were no moderating effects of pubertal timing. DISCUSSION: Depressive and anxiety symptoms decrease in the years leading away from menarche, suggesting puberty-related psychopathology may be transitory in some individuals. Time since menarche may be a clinically relevant indicator of psychological functioning in pubescent adolescent females. Future studies should examine this variable in larger samples, including more adolescents in the earlier stages of puberty.

The association of epigenetic age acceleration and depressive and anxiety symptom severity among children recently exposed to substantiated maltreatment.

Child maltreatment is a major risk factor for both depressive and anxiety disorders. However, many children exposed to maltreatment never meet diagnostic threshold for either disorder while experiencing only transitory symptoms post-exposure. Recent research suggests DNA methylation adds predictive value in explaining variation in the onset and course of multiple psychiatric disorders following exposure to child maltreatment. Epigenetic age acceleration (EAA), the biological aging of cells not attributable to chronological aging, is a stress-sensitive biomarker capturing genome-wide variation in DNA methylation with the potential to identify children who have been maltreated at greatest risk for depressive and anxiety disorders. The current study examined two EAA clocks appropriate for the pediatric population, the Horvath and Pediatric Buccal Epigenetic (PedBE) clocks, and their associations with depressive and anxiety symptom severity following child maltreatment. Children (N = 71) 8-15 years of age, all of whom were exposed to substantiated child maltreatment in the 12 months prior to study entry, were enrolled. Risk modeling adjusting for several confounders revealed that EAA estimated via the Horvath clock was significantly associated with more severe depressive and anxiety symptoms. The PedBE clock was not associated with either depressive or anxiety symptom severity. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated that EAA via the Horvath clock robustly predicted depressive and anxiety symptom severity across multiple modeling scenarios. Our findings advance existing research suggesting EAA, as estimated with the Horvath clock, may be a promising biomarker for identifying children at greatest risk for more severe depressive and anxiety symptoms following maltreatment.

Circadian cortisol secretion in adolescent girls with conduct disorder.

Severe antisocial behavior in girls, best exemplified by conduct disorder (CD), is a serious clinical and public health problem. Treatment is difficult, particularly in girls with comorbid internalizing disorders. Identifying biological correlates may help to develop new treatments or diagnostic, prognostic, or treatment response biomarkers. Based on our earlier work and research from others occurring primarily in boys with severe antisocial behavior, it is possible that abnormalities in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis circadian cortisol cycle may be associated with female CD. Additionally, research suggests that the presence of comorbid internalizing disorders may be related to differences in cortisol secretion, compared to subjects who only have CD. Our study aimed: 1) to compare the circadian cortisol cycle in 98 girls with CD, 15-16 years of age to 47 girls without any psychiatric disorder (ND) and 2) to compare the cycle in girls with CD and comorbid internalizing disorders (CD + INT) to those without such comorbidity (CD Only). Salivary cortisol was collected over 24 h during weekdays at scheduled times, with protocol adherence measures in place. Unstructured covariance pattern modeling, controlling for effects of age, social class, IQ, and awakening time was used to analyze cortisol data. CD was associated with overall lower cortisol secretion (p = 0.03), but this difference was due to a lower volume of cortisol secreted 30 min after awakening (area under the curve with respect to ground, p = 0.01). Circadian cortisol secretion was no different in the CD+INT group compared to the CD Only group (p = 0.52). Our findings need to be replicated using current consensus guidelines for the assessment of the CAR. We also suggest two new avenues of research in this field.

Family environmental antecedents of pubertal timing in girls and boys: A review and open questions.

Across nonhuman species, pubertal timing is affected by the social environment, with consequences for reproductive success and behavior. In human beings, variations in pubertal timing have not been systematically examined in relation to social environmental antecedents, although their psychological consequences are well documented. This paper focuses on links in human beings between pubertal timing and the childhood social environment, with several sections: A review of studies relating pubertal timing to the family context, a key aspect of the social environment; challenges in studying the issue; and opportunities for future work that takes advantage of and creates links with evidence in other species. The review shows that pubertal timing in girls is accelerated by adversity in aspects of the early family social context, with effects small in size; data in boys are not sufficient to enable conclusions. Inferences from existing studies are limited by variations in conceptualizations and measurement of relevant aspects of puberty and of the family social environment, and by methodological issues (e.g., reliance on existing data, use of retrospective reports, nonrandom missing data). Open questions remain about the nature, mechanisms, and specificity of the links between early family social environment and pubertal timing (e.g., form of associations, consideration of absence of positive experiences, role of timing of exposure). Animal studies provide a useful guide for addressing these questions, by delineating potential hormonal mechanisms that underlie links among social context, pubertal timing, and behavior, and encouraging attention to aspects of the social environment outside the family, especially peers.

Pubertal Timing and Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Mediating Role of Parental and Peer Influences.

Using intergenerational, prospective data at ages 9 months, 7, 11, and 14 years from the nationally representative United Kingdom Millennium Cohort Study, this interdisciplinary study unpacks why 14-year-old adolescents with early perceived pubertal timing (PT) were more likely to drink alcohol (ever, frequent, and binge drinking) compared to those whose PT was on-time or late (5,757 girls, 5,799 boys; 80% White, 10% Asian, 3% Black, and 7% Other British). Parents allowed drinking among 22% (18%) of early PT girls (boys) compared to 11% of late PT adolescents; formal mediation models showed differences by PT in parent permissiveness and gains in alcohol-using friends primarily explained age 14 PT-drinking associations. Parental alcohol permissiveness should be a key prevention target for early PT adolescents.

Toddler dysregulated fear predicts continued risk for social anxiety symptoms in early adolescence.

Identifying early risk factors for the development of social anxiety symptoms has important translational implications. Accurately identifying which children are at the highest risk is of critical importance, especially if we can identify risk early in development. We examined continued risk for social anxiety symptoms at the transition to adolescence in a community sample of children (n = 112) that had been observed for high fearfulness at age 2 and tracked for social anxiety symptoms from preschool through age 6. In our previous studies, we found that a pattern of dysregulated fear (DF), characterized by high fear in low threat contexts, predicted social anxiety symptoms at ages 3, 4, 5, and 6 years across two samples. In the current study, we re-evaluated these children at 11-13 years of age by using parent and child reports of social anxiety symptoms, parental monitoring, and peer relationship quality. The scores for DF uniquely predicted adolescents' social anxiety symptoms beyond the prediction that was made by more proximal measures of behavioral (e.g., kindergarten social withdrawal) and concurrent environmental risk factors (e.g., parental monitoring, peer relationships). Implications for early detection, prevention, and intervention are discussed.

Strategies for Assessing and Modeling Depressive Symptoms in Longitudinal Studies of Adolescents.

Studying age-related change in psychosocial behavior is difficult because manifestation differs with development. While the use of age-appropriate measurement instruments addresses developmental differences, changes in measurement also challenge researchers' ability to study developmental trajectories. Leveraging 8-occasion data from 262 girls (baseline ages 11 and 17 years) participating in a cross-sequential study spanning childhood to adulthood, this paper (1) highlights the needs of developmental researchers seeking to measure change across large swaths of development, (2) forwards an initial formula to convert Beck Depression Inventory-II scores into Children's Depression Inventory scores and facilitate longitudinal analysis and understanding of how depression develops across adolescence, and (3) suggests collection and analysis of new data that would better facilitate researcher's linking of child-, adolescent-, and adult-oriented measurement instruments.

Understanding Puberty and Its Measurement: Ideas for Research in a New Generation.

The measurement of puberty is an intricate and precise task, requiring a match between participants' developmental age and appropriate techniques to identify and capture variations in maturation. Much of the foundational work on puberty and its psychosocial correlates was conducted several decades ago. In this article, we review the biological foundation of puberty; the operationalization of puberty in statistical analyses; and strategies for considering diversity and social context in research to help researchers align measurement with meaningful conceptual questions. These three areas are particularly important, given new statistical techniques, greater awareness of individual variations in development, and key differences between past cohorts and youth coming of age today.

The New Biobehavioral Developmental Science of Puberty.

This special section is the product of a small-group meeting of those who study puberty and its relevance. Our aim was to gather information and write manuscripts to inform scientists of advances and continuing obstacles, as well as to stimulate interdisciplinary research on puberty relevant across the lifespan. The themes of the nine position or review papers (and commentary), range from cell to society. We hope this introduction will entice you to read all the papers and consider how they apply or expand your next steps in research or help you synthesize the literature on puberty. We anticipate the papers can embellish your adolescent courses, and, for junior scientists, we hope the many intriguing possibilities for future research on puberty will be apparent.

Conceptualizing Puberty as a Window of Opportunity for Impacting Health and Well-Being Across the Life Span.

We promote the perspective that puberty, a separate biological process embedded in adolescence, is a "window of opportunity" for understanding and impacting health and development. First, we include a brief overview of pubertal change. Second, we propose a critical role for puberty in shaping life span health due to its connections with early life precursors, health issues and risks emerging during puberty, and health in young adulthood and beyond. Next, we discuss the importance of puberty measures in developmental research and suggest ways to make the science of puberty an important standalone research entity, as well as an essential component of studies conducted during adolescence. Finally, we discuss measurement issues, novel theoretical models of puberty, and the necessity of adopting an interdisciplinary perspective in research on puberty and in adolescence more broadly.

Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Acquisition Among Adolescents and Young Adults in Pennsylvania: A Rural and Urban Comparison.

Adolescent and young adult chlamydia and gonorrhea rates in rural versus urban communities of Pennsylvania were analyzed from 2004 to 2014. Higher rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea have been documented in rural youth, making them more likely to acquire to suffer adverse outcomes than youth in urban populations.

Examining the Validity of Self-reported Primary and Secondary Exposure to Cigarette Smoke in Adolescent Girls: The Utility of Salivary Cotinine as a Biomarker.

BACKGROUND: Studies of cigarette use and exposure often rely on either self-report or cotinine assay. In adolescence it is not clear how well assays and self-report correspond, or what effect estrogen exposure has on cotinine. OBJECTIVES: This study sought to identify optimal cut-points for salivary cotinine thresholds for girls with primary, secondary, and no smoke exposure, and whether menarche and hormone contraceptive use are important for interpreting salivary cotinine. METHODS: This longitudinal prospective study recruited 262 healthy adolescent girls who participated in three annual interviews across 24 months. Salivary cotinine assays and self-report of primary and secondary smoke exposure, menarcheal status, and hormone contraceptive use were collected. RESULTS: No adolescents reported primary smoke exposure without secondary exposure. Optimal cut-points for distinguishing primary smoke exposure from secondary-only and no smoke exposure were 1.05 and 3.01 ng/ml, respectively based on receiver operator curves (ROC); no reliable cut-point for secondary-only versus no smoke exposure was identified. The ideal salivary cotinine cut-point to distinguish primary smoke exposure varied by hormone contraceptive use and was 2.14 ng/ml for those using progesterone contraceptives, higher than that of girls using estrogen contraceptives and those not using hormone contraceptives. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to examine variance in salivary cotinine cut-points based on hormone exposure for adolescent girls, with findings indicating that hormone contraceptive use in particular may be a key consideration when identifying adolescent smoking. The use of previously recommended salivary cotinine cut-points of 3.85 ng/ml or higher may overestimate nonsmokers.

Rural counties chlamydia and gonorrhea rates in Pennsylvania among adolescents and young adults.

BACKGROUND: American adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 account for 50% of all sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) annually. Rural populations in this age group are often understudied, despite having factors that place them at higher risk for STDs. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of time series analysis in the assessment of rural Pennsylvania county-level chlamydia and gonorrhea rates overtime (2004-2014) for 15- to 19- and 20- to 24-year-old age groups by gender. METHODS: An exploratory analysis was completed using Pennsylvania STD surveillance case report and census data, to develop a linear mixed-effects model of the STD rate for each Pennsylvania county for the years 2004 through 2014 using 3-month increments. A cubic polynomial spline regression model was assumed over the 44 time points for each county to account for possible oscillations in the STD rate during the 11-year period. RESULTS: Eight out of 12 rural counties had a significant increase in chlamydia or gonorrhea rates, and five rural counties had significant decreases in chlamydia or gonorrhea rates from 2004 to 2014. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study provide the first analysis of change in rates of STDs in rural settings and demonstrate the utility of time series analysis for populations with small sample sizes.

Early growth faltering in post-institutionalized youth and later anthropometric and pubertal development.

BackgroundEarly-life adversity that increases the risk of growth stunting is hypothesized to increase the risk of obesity and, in girls, early-onset puberty. This hypothesis was tested in children adopted from orphanages.MethodsPost-institutionalized (PI) youth were compared with youth reared in comparable families (non-adopted; NA) on height, weight, pubertal stage, and fat mass (127 PI, 80 female; 156 NA, 85 female, aged 7-14 years). Anthropometric findings at adoption were obtained from first US clinic visits.ResultsOverall, 25% of PI youth were height-stunted (<3rd percentile) at adoption. Years post adoption, PI youth had lower BMI-for-age (P=0.004), height-for-age (P<0.001), and less body fat (P<0.001) than NA youth had, but they did not differ by sex. Pubertal status did not differ by group or sex. The anthropometric findings held when the stunted-at-adoption subset was examined; they were also less likely to be in central puberty than other PI youth.ConclusionEarly deprived orphanage care increases the risk of growth stunting but not obesity in children adopted into US families, and it does not independently contribute to early-onset puberty for PI girls. The role of the environment following early adversity may modify the impact of early adverse care.

Longitudinal synergies between cortisol reactivity and diurnal testosterone and antisocial behavior in young adolescents.

The aims were to identify the correspondence between simultaneous, longitudinal changes in cortisol reactivity and diurnal testosterone and to test the hypothesis that cortisol reactivity and diurnal testosterone interact so as to influence antisocial behavior. Participants were 135 children and young adolescents assessed at 6-month intervals over 1 year. Upon enrollment girls were age 8, 10, or 12 years (N = 69, M = 10.06 years) and boys were age 9, 11, or 13 years (N = 66, M = 10.94 years). Assessments included Tanner staging by a nurse, cortisol reactivity (Trier Social Stress Test for Children), diurnal testosterone, and interviews and questionnaires. Growth models showed that cortisol reactivity and diurnal testosterone basal levels (intercept) and rate of change (slopes) were not related, suggesting different mechanisms of growth. Longitudinal regression analyses assessed cortisol reactivity and diurnal testosterone longitudinally. The interactions of cortisol reactivity and diurnal testosterone showed that when diurnal testosterone was low, boys with low cortisol reactivity were reported to have more behavior problems (i.e., oppositional defiant disorder symptoms and attention problems) than when testosterone was high. In addition, when diurnal testosterone was high, boys with high or moderate cortisol reactivity were significantly higher on total antisocial behavior, attention behavior problems, and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms than when testosterone was low or moderate. The results were similar but less frequent for girls. These findings advance the science of young adolescence by showing the interaction between preexisting sensitivity to stressors and the normative testosterone changes of puberty and antisocial behavior.

Cytokine Patterns in Healthy Adolescent Girls: Heterogeneity Captured by Variable and Person-Centered Statistical Strategies.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about variation in individual cytokines/cytokine profiles for a large healthy, pediatric population. When cytokines in a healthy group are not abnormally high as in a disease state, it is challenging to determine appropriate statistical strategies. The aims of the study were (1) to describe variation among cytokine concentrations and profiles in healthy adolescent girls, (2) to illustrate utility of data reduction approaches novel to cytokine research, (variable-centered [principal factor analysis, PFA], person-centered [latent profile analysis, LPA]), and (3) to demonstrate utility of such methods in linking cytokine profiles to health outcomes (e.g., depressive, anxiety symptoms). METHOD: Serum was analyzed for 13 cytokines representing adaptive and innate immune responses in 262 girls (age = 11, 13, 15, and 17 years). RESULTS: There was great variation in cytokine concentrations. PFA revealed a four-factor solution explaining 73.13% of the shared variance among 13 cytokines (e.g., factor 1 included interleukin [IL]-4, IL-13, IL-5, interferon gamma; 26.65% of the shared variance). The LPA supported classifying girls into subgroups characterized by "high overall" (7.3% of sample), "high adaptive" (26.7%), "high innate" (21%), or "low overall" (45%) cytokine levels. Factors and profiles were useful in describing individual differences in depressive/anxiety symptoms (e.g., factor 1 positively associated with depressive symptoms but negatively with trait anxiety; increased depressive symptoms or trait anxiety was associated with greater likelihood of being in the "high adaptive" group). CONCLUSIONS: Healthy girls showed differences in cytokine levels and patterns of variation and important associations with psychological variables. PFA and LPA offer novel approaches useful for examining cytokine panels in healthy populations.

Morningness-Eveningness and Physical Activity in Adolescent Girls: Menarche as a Transition Point.

This study identified trajectories of morningness-eveningness (M-E) and physical activity when chronological (i.e., time since birth) versus gynecological (i.e., time since menarche) age is used to indicate maturation. Piecewise models were fit for girls (N = 262, ages 11-19) using chronological or gynecological age as the time metric. Girls stayed up later (i.e., eveningness) as they approach menarche. After menarche no change in M-E was observed. In contrast, no change in M-E was detected with chronological age. No change in physical activity was observed before menarche, and physical activity declined after menarche. With chronological age, physical activity declined as girls got older. Gynecological age may be more appropriate than chronological age as a metric for understanding changes in M-E and physical activity.

Associations between the prenatal environment and cardiovascular risk factors in adolescent girls: Internalizing and externalizing behavior symptoms as mediators.

This longitudinal study examines links among adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms, the prenatal environment (e.g., nicotine exposure) and pre/perinatal maternal health, and cardiovascular risk factors. Girls (N=262) ages 11-17 reported internalizing and externalizing behaviors and mothers reported about the prenatal environment and maternal health during and 3 months post-pregnancy. Adolescent cardiovascular risk included adiposity, smoking, blood pressure, and salivary C-reactive protein. Internalizing symptoms mediated relations between prenatal exposures/maternal health and adiposity; externalizing symptoms mediated relations between prenatal exposures and adolescent smoking. Healthcare providers who attend to internalizing and externalizing symptoms in girls may ultimately influence cardiovascular health, especially among those with pre/perinatal risk factors.