A meta-analytic review of the association between pubertal timing and psychopathology in adolescence: Are there sex differences in risk?

Abstract

Research examining pubertal timing effects on psychopathology has emphasized that a subset of adolescents, particularly females, who experience early pubertal maturation relative to their peers appear to be at increased risk for psychopathology. The aims of the current meta-analysis were (a) to quantify the magnitude of early pubertal timing effects on psychopathology, (b) to examine potential moderators of pubertal timing effects (sex, psychopathology domain, sample composition, measurement method, and mean sample age), and (c) to examine findings in relation to hypotheses in the extant literature explicating differential pubertal timing effects for early versus late youth and males versus females. A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed and PsycINFO databases and 101 articles met criteria for inclusion. Included studies reported a quantitative association between pubertal timing and higher-order broadband dimensions of psychopathology (i.e., internalizing, externalizing), and/or lower-order subdomains (i.e., distress, fear, antisocial behavior, substance abuse, eating pathology). Using meta-analytic methods, we estimated global effect sizes (Cohen's ds) for the association between pubertal timing and psychopathology. Adolescent sex did not moderate early pubertal timing effects on emotional and behavior problems. However, robust early pubertal timing effects emerged for both males and females across all domains of psychopathology that were small in magnitude (ds∼.20). Measurement method of pubertal timing, but not sample composition or mean sample age, significantly contributed to the heterogeneity of effect sizes across studies. Findings have implications for refinement of theoretical models of pubertal timing effects on psychopathology and highlight the importance of empirical work that can identify pathways which may link offset pubertal timing to psychopathology during adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record

Correspondence of Pubertal Neuroendocrine and Tanner Stage Changes in Boys and Associations With Substance Use

“…Later pubertal timing-SU associations in boys are often explained by a compensation mechanism whereby less physically mature boys attempt to show they are older by engaging in more mature or risky behaviors, including SU (Marceau, Abar, & Jackson, 2015). It should be noted that whereas the association of earlier timing and SU in boys was confirmed, the association of later timing and SU in boys was not found to be significant in a recent meta-analysis (Ullsperger & Nikolas, 2017).…”

“…Individual differences in the timing of puberty have been associated with physical and mental/ behavioral health problems (e.g., Ullsperger & Nikolas, 2017). Reasons for this association that have been advanced usually focus on notions such as insufficient readiness or mismatch of early maturing youth to adapt to social demands (e.g., developmental readiness or maturational disparity hypotheses; Ge & Natsuaki, 2009;Mendle, Harden, Brooks-Gunn, & Graber, 2010).…”

“…Reasons for this association that have been advanced usually focus on notions such as insufficient readiness or mismatch of early maturing youth to adapt to social demands (e.g., developmental readiness or maturational disparity hypotheses; Ge & Natsuaki, 2009;Mendle, Harden, Brooks-Gunn, & Graber, 2010). These hypotheses have generally been supported in literature examining earlier pubertal timing and internalizing and externalizing problems in boys, although some studies find no effects or the opposite effects (Mendle & Ferrero, 2012;Ullsperger & Nikolas, 2017).…”

“…Indeed, a large body of studies using a variety of measures of puberty (though most often self-report) has shown that earlier timing is consistently associated with more SU and SU problems in boys (Mendle & Ferrero, 2012;Ullsperger & Nikolas, 2017). Importantly, the early pubertal timing-SU association has also been shown using hormone levels to index pubertal timing in boys (Dawes et al, 1999;de Water, Braams, Crone, & Peper, 2013).…”

Biological Aging in Childhood and Adolescence Following Experiences of Threat and Deprivation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Accelerated aging across domains has been associated with a host of mental and physical health problems. For instance, accelerated pubertal timing is linked with a range of mental health problems including heightened levels of risk-taking behavior, delinquency and substance abuse problems (Copeland et al, 2013;Harden & Mendle, 2012), as well as depression and anxiety disorders (Hamilton, Hamlat, Stange, Abramson, & Alloy, 2014;Mendle, Harden, Brooks-Gunn, & Graber, 2010;Mendle et al, 2014;Negriff & Susman, 2011;Ullsperger & Nikolas, 2017). Accelerated pubertal timing is also associated with a range of physical health problems, including cardiovascular disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome in females, and testicular cancer in males (Day, Elks, Murray, Ong, & Perry, 2015;Golub et al, 2008;Lakshman et al, 2009;Velie, Nechuta, & Osuch, 2006).…”