Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Sex Hormones among Male and Female American Adolescents

Abstract

Although early sexual initiation and childbearing are major barriers against the upward social mobility of American adolescents, particularly those who belong to a low socioeconomic status (SES) and racial minorities such as Blacks, less is known on how SES and race correlate with adolescents’ sex hormones. An understanding of the associations between race and SES with adolescents’ sex hormones may help better understand why racial, and SES gaps exist in sexual risk behaviors and teen pregnancies. To extend the existing knowledge on social patterning of adolescents’ sex hormones, in the current study, we studied social patterning of sex hormones in a national sample of male and female American adolescents, with a particular interest in the role of race and SES. For this cross-sectional study, data came from the baseline data (wave 1) of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, a national longitudinal prospective study of American adolescents. This analysis included 717 male and 576 female non-Hispanic White or Black adolescents ages 9–10. The dependent variables were sex hormones (testosterone for males and estradiol for females). Independent variables were age, race, family marital status, parental education, and financial difficulties. For data analysis, linear regression models were used. Age, race, parental education, and financial difficulties were associated with estradiol in female and testosterone levels in male adolescents. Associations were not identical for males and females, but the patterns were mainly similar. Low SES explained why race is associated with higher estradiol in female adolescents. Marital status of the family did not correlate with any of the sex hormones. Being Black and low SES were associated with a higher level of sex hormones in male and female adolescents. This information may help us understand the social patterning of sexual initiation and childbearing. Addressing racial and economic inequalities in early puberty, sexual initiation, and childbearing is an essential part of closing the racial and economic gaps in the US.

Association between Hippocampal Volume and Working Memory in 10,000+ 9–10-Year-Old Children: Sex Differences

“…While hippocampal volume is expected to be associated with (list sorting) working memory, this effect is expected to differ for females and males. In line with past research [ 21 ], males and females show different neurocircuit correlates of various aspects of cognitive function [ 22 ], including, but not limited to, working memory and executive function [ 15 , 20 , 23 ]. Given the years of research on the difference between boys and girls on executive function tasks, we were able to formulate a specific hypothesis regarding the expected direction of the sex difference.…”

“…Although, in the overall sample, high household income was positively associated with executive function in the children, a stronger effect was found for the effects of high household income on the executive function of female compared to male children [ 15 ]. Using the ABCD data, Assari showed sex-specific patterns of sexual maturation and how SES correlates with sex hormones in males and females [ 20 ]. These studies suggest that sex may alter the salience of brain structures for working memory in the ABCD Study.…”

Resting-State Functional Connectivity between Putamen and Salience Network and Childhood Body Mass Index

“…The same pattern is shown for SES effects on trauma [ 28 ], attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) [ 29 ], suicide [ 27 ], depression [ 30 ], aggression [ 31 ], tobacco use [ 31 , 32 , 33 ], impulsivity [ 34 ], school bonding [ 35 ], school performance [ 36 ], math performance [ 37 ], attention [ 38 ], and inhibitory control [ 39 ] in Non-Hispanic Black children compared with Non-Hispanic White children. Similar results are shown in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study [ 26 , 27 , 39 , 40 ], Add Health [ 17 ], the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) [ 29 , 34 , 35 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ], Monitoring the Future (MTF) [ 36 ], the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) [ 30 ], the Flint Adolescents Study (FAS) [ 45 ], the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) [ 31 ], the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) study [ 46 ], and the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS) [ 47 , 48 ].…”

“…Our second finding that putamen functional connectivity to the salience network showing weaker association with BMI for Non-Hispanic Black children than Non-Hispanic White children is an extension of the MDRs literature. Our past research using the ABCD data [ 26 , 27 , 39 , 40 ], Add Health [ 17 ], FFCWS [ 29 , 34 , 35 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ], MTF [ 36 ], NSAL [ 30 ], FAS [ 45 ], and FACHS [ 47 , 48 ] have all shown significantly weaker effects of individual-level risk and protective factors (e.g., SES, age, coping, and affect) on various health outcomes for Non-Hispanic Black children in comparison with Non-Hispanic White children. For example, family income and parental education showed stronger association with aggression [ 31 ], tobacco use [ 33 ], school bonding [ 35 ], school performance [ 36 ], ADHD [ 29 ], impulsivity [ 34 ], inhibitory control [ 21 ], stress [ 28 , 41 ], obesity [ 44 ], physical health [ 31 ], and depression [ 30 ] for Non-Hispanic White children when compared with Non-Hispanic Black children.…”

Exploring profiles of hormone exposure: Associations with cognition in a population-based cohort of early adolescents (Stage 1 Registered Report)

“…This could be due to a number of co-occurring factors such as race/ethnic discrimination and the emerging salience of race/ethnic identity, that in turn, may increase stress responses and influence pubertal processes (Carter et al, 2017;Deardorff et al, 2019;Quintana, 2007;Rivas-Drake et al, 2014). Lower socioeconomic status (SES; measured by parent education and financial difficulties) has also been associated with higher testosterone in boys and higher estradiol in girls (Assari et al, 2020). This too may represent a proxy for stressful occurrences such as living in neighborhoods with scarce resources or high levels of environmental toxins (Stumper et al, 2020;Worthman et al, 2019).…”