ArticleThe Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine2021
Girls' Pubertal Timing and Tempo and Mental Health: A Longitudinal Examination in an Ethnically Diverse Sample.
Article in The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis of 30 years of stress generation research: Clinical, psychological, and sociodemographic risk and protective factors for prospective negative life events.Psychological bulletin · 2024Pooled it
- Article
- Prepubertal Growth Trajectory and Pubertal Onset.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Structural MRI assessment of hypothalamic alterations and cognitive implications in adolescents with rapid pubertal progression.BMC medical imaging · 2026Article
- Associations between structural stigma and earlier pubertal timing persist for 1 year among Black girls and Latinx youth.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The long reach of puberty: mechanisms underlying sex-dependent links between pubertal timing and adult internalizing symptoms.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Research advances and future directions in female ADHD: the lifelong interplay of hormonal fluctuations with mood, cognition, and disease.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Review
- Navigating adolescence: pubertal development in autism spectrum conditions and its relation to mental health.Archives of women's mental health · 2024Article
- Links between socioeconomic position and cognitive and behavioral regulation in adolescence: The role of pubertal development.Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · 2024Article
- The influence of relative pubertal maturity on executive function development in adolescent girls.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Prenatal environment is associated with the pace of cortical network development over the first three years of life.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Internalizing Symptoms among Kosovar Adolescents: Pubertal Correlates in Boys and Girls.Journal of child & adolescent trauma · 2024Article
- Early life adversity accelerates hypothalamic drive of pubertal timing in female rats with associated enhanced acoustic startle.Hormones and behavior · 2024Article
- Talk it out or tuck it away: The contribution of maternal socialization of coping to depression in youth with early pubertal maturation.Developmental psychology · 2024Article
- Migraine and its association with pubertal maturation and behavioral traits among adolescent girls.Acta neurologica Belgica · 2023Article
- The Queensland Twin Adolescent Brain Project, a longitudinal study of adolescent brain development.Scientific data · 2023Article
- Neighborhood Racial and Economic Privilege and Timing of Pubertal Onset in Girls.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2023Article
- Reward sensitivity and internalizing symptoms during the transition to puberty: An examination of 9-and 10-year-olds in the ABCD Study.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2022Article
- The association between pubertal timing and quality of life among children and adolescents: a cross-sectional study in Chongqing, China.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 9 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeEarlier timing and faster tempo of puberty have been linked to adolescents' poor mental health. Previous research rarely adjusted for childhood mental health, did not use physical examination to assess puberty, and excluded Latinas and Asian Americans. This study addressed these limitations.
methodsWe followed 822 girls, recruited at ages 6-8, for 8 years. Breast and pubic hair development and anxiety and depressive symptoms were assessed prospectively and repeatedly. Structural equation models tested whether pubertal timing and tempo were associated with adolescent mental health symptoms and whether associations varied by ethnicity. Models were adjusted for childhood mental health symptoms, body mass index, and family income.
resultsEarlier breast development was associated with higher depressive symptoms among whites (β = -.19; p < .01) and higher anxiety symptoms among Latinas (β = -.26; p < .05), but lower depressive symptoms among Asians (β = .24, p < .05). Later pubic hair development (b = .24; p < .05) and faster pubic hair tempo (β = .26; p < .01) were associated with higher anxiety symptoms among Latinas. Faster pubic hair tempo was associated with lower depressive symptoms among Asians (β = -.34; p < .05). Tempo of breast development showed no associations.
conclusionsFindings confirmed that earlier breast development was associated with higher mental health symptoms for Latina and white girls but was protective among Asians. Results for pubic hair and pubertal tempo were inconsistent, requiring future examination. While targeted interventions to prevent mental health problems among early-maturing girls are critical, there is variability among who might benefit most.
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