ArticlePsychological medicine2023
Corticolimbic connectivity mediates the relationship between pubertal timing and mental health problems.
Article in Psychological medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Body, Emotions, and Hormones: A Systematic Review of Body Dissatisfaction, Emotion Regulation, and Puberty in Adolescence.Journal of adolescence · 2026Pooled it
- Research Review: On the (mis)use of puberty data in the ABCD Study® - a systematic review, problem illustration, and path forward.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Pooled it
- Sex and pubertal stage as moderators of the association between resting-state connectivity of striatal circuitry and reward sensitivity in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Pubertal timing predicts resting-state functional connectivity of cortical networks.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Links between hormonal and pubertal development, and adolescent females' risk for affective symptoms.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Functional brain network correlates of pubertal timing and depressive symptoms in preadolescence.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Puberty in Context: Accounting for Psychosocial Experiences in the Association Between Pubertal Timing, Sex/Gender, and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms in Canadian Youth.Depression and anxiety · 2026Article
- The role of pubertal development in the association between trauma and internalising symptoms in female youth.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2025Article
- The causal role of male pubertal timing for the development of externalizing and internalizing traits: results from Mendelian randomization studies.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundUndergoing puberty ahead of peers ('earlier pubertal timing') is an important risk factor for mental health problems during early adolescence. The current study examined pathways between pubertal timing and mental health via connectivity of neural systems implicated in emotional reactivity and regulation (specifically corticolimbic connections) in 9- to 14-year-olds.
methodResearch questions were examined in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, a large population representative sample in the United States. Linear mixed models examined associations between pubertal timing and resting-state corticolimbic connectivity. Significant connections were examined as potential mediators of the relationship between pubertal timing and mental health (withdrawn depressed and rule-breaking) problems. Exploratory analyses interrogated whether the family environment moderated neural risk patterns in those undergoing puberty earlier than their peers.
resultsEarlier pubertal timing was related to decreased connectivity between limbic structures (bilateral amygdala and right hippocampus) and the cingulo-opercular network, left amygdala and somatomotor (mouth) network, as well as between the left hippocampus and ventral attention network and visual network. Corticolimbic connections also mediated the relationship between earlier pubertal timing and increased withdrawn depressed problems (but not rule-breaking problems). Finally, parental acceptance buffered against connectivity patterns that were implicated in withdrawn depressed problems in those undergoing puberty earlier than their peers.
conclusionFindings highlight the role of decreased corticolimbic connectivity in mediating pathways between earlier pubertal timing and withdrawn depressed problems, and we present preliminary evidence that the family environment may buffer against these neural risk patterns during early adolescence.
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