Effects of War Exposure on Pubertal Development in Refugee Children

Abstract

Increasing research shows pubertal timing accelerates in response to threats while it decelerates in response to deprivation. Yet, these environmental stressors are unlikely to occur in isolation. Drawing from a highly unique sample of Syrian refugee children living in temporary settlements in Lebanon, we investigated how exposure to the Syrian Civil War followed by displacement into refugee camps impacted developmental trajectories of 1,576 boys and girls. Boys' pubertal timing may be especially sensitive to morbidity/mortality threats affecting kin, but not for boys facing energetic stress. Girls' pubertal development responded to energetic stress, but not war exposure. We discuss the relevance of these findings for translational efforts as irregular pubertal timing is increasingly understood to forecast adverse health and behavioural outcomes.