Effects of Early Life Adversity on Pubertal Timing and Tempo in Black and White Girls: The National Growth and Health Study

Abstract

ObjectiveAlthough exposure to abuse in early life predicts earlier pubertal timing, especially for girls, it is unclear if this association generalizes to nonabuse stressors. In addition, the impact of race on the stress-maturation association remains unknown. To address these issues, we examined whether race moderates the effects of early adversity on pubertal timing and tempo using a longitudinal study design.MethodsIn a cohort of 9- and 10-year-old Black and White girls, pubertal (areolar and pubic hair) maturation was assessed annually for 7 years. In adulthood, 368 participants (186 Black, 182 White) reported on abuse and nonabuse stressors they experienced from ages 0 to 12 years.ResultsEarly life abuse was associated with earlier pubertal timing, as indexed by younger age at menarche (b = −0.22, p = .005, 95% confidence interval [CI] = −0.39 to −0.06) and greater pubic hair development (b = 0.11, p = .003, 95% CI = 0.04 to 0.18), in addition to slower pubertal tempo, as indexed by slower rate of pubic hair (b = −0.03, p < .001, 95% CI = −0.05 to −0.01) and areolar (b = −0.02, p = .02, 95% CI = −0.03 to −0.003) development. These associations were not found for nonabuse adversity. Black girls with early life abuse had greater pubic hair development (b = 0.23, p < .001, 95% CI = 0.12 to 0.35) and were slower in pubic hair tempo (b = −0.07, p < .001, 95% CI = −0.09 to −0.04) than their White counterparts.ConclusionsScreening for early life abuse may help address health disparities related to earlier pubertal timing.

Effects of war exposure on pubertal development in refugee children.

“…We do think that the possibility that the observed sex differences are due to measurement highlights a need for future research involving longitudinal measures of pubertal development. When such measures are available over multiple time points (in boys and/or girls), studies tend to focus on pubertal tempo (e.g., Hamlat et al, 2022; Sumner et al, 2023). Pubertal tempo refers to the pace of change in pubertal development, while pubertal timing focuses on the relative onset of puberty and/or relative timing of achieving different pubertal stages (Mendle et al, 2010).…”

“…As we previously noted, children and adolescents in LMICs are likely to experience far more concentrated adversity, far more severe poverty, and have far less access to mental health services than youth in higher income countries. An increasing number of Western scholars are proposing that pubertal development may be a transdiagnostic mechanism (i.e., a core process linking adversity to poor outcomes) for psychopathology (e.g., Colich, Platt, et al, 2020; Hamlat et al, 2022; Mendle et al, 2020). Accumulating evidence in this area is providing the basis for critical research to identify targets for intervention in order to prevent psychopathology in trauma-affected youth.…”

Thirty-year follow-up of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD): the challenges and triumphs of conducting in-person research at a distance

“… 61–63 This objective also stems from an NIH initiative to support research that identifies specific vulnerability factors and mechanisms by which early life adversity exposures transmit risk for poor health. 64 The current study is well positioned to contribute to this area by testing empirically the mechanistic role of pubertal development in a single longitudinal data set, thereby integrating previously separate literatures (1) relating early life adversity to earlier and faster rates of pubertal maturation 65–69 and (2) relating earlier pubertal maturation to poor cardiometabolic outcomes. 70–75 This work will also consider concurrent trajectories of prepubertal weight gain, relevant health behaviours and resilience factors.…”

Experience-dependent neurodevelopment of self-regulation in adolescence

“…Under such frameworks, earlier menarche may be one such mechanism that enables accelerated maturation in adolescence in response to their environments ( Hamlat et al, 2023 ). Indirectly, early life adversity may also impact adolescent regulatory neurodevelopment by instantiating earlier pubertal development ( Hamlat et al, 2021 , Hamlat et al, 2022 , Hamlat et al, 2023 , Strong et al, 2016 , Suglia et al, 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2019 ). Importantly, specific types of adverse experiences—for example, those that involve threat—are more strongly related to earlier menarche than those that do not ( Hamlat et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Indirectly, early life adversity may also impact adolescent regulatory neurodevelopment by instantiating earlier pubertal development ( Hamlat et al, 2021 , Hamlat et al, 2022 , Hamlat et al, 2023 , Strong et al, 2016 , Suglia et al, 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2019 ). Importantly, specific types of adverse experiences—for example, those that involve threat—are more strongly related to earlier menarche than those that do not ( Hamlat et al, 2022 ). Moreover, connections between experiences and pubertal timing are not unidirectional.…”