Childhood Adversity and Pubertal Development Among Puerto Rican Boys and Girls

Abstract

Objective Evidence stemming largely from retrospective studies suggests that childhood adversity (CA) is associated with earlier age at menarche, a marker of pubertal timing, among girls. Little is known about associations with pubertal tempo among boys or racial/ethnic minorities. We examined the association between CA and timing and tempo of pubertal development among boys and girls. Methods The Boricua Youth Study is a longitudinal study of Puerto Rican youth residing in the San Juan metro area in Puerto Rico and the South Bronx, New York. CA was based on caretaker reports of parental loss and parental maladjustment and youth reports of child maltreatment and exposure to violence. Youth completed the Pubertal Development Scale (PDS) yearly for 3 years. In linear mixed models stratified by sex, we examined the association between CA and pubertal timing and tempo, adjusting for site, socioeconomic status, and age. Results Among the 1949 children who were 8 years or older by wave 3, cumulative CA was associated with higher PDS scores among girls compared with girls not exposed to CA (PDS score: 2.63 [95% confidence interval {CI} = 2.55–2.71] versus 2.48 [95% CI = 2.37–2.58]). In contrast, among boys, experiencing adversities was associated with lower pubertal developmental stage or later timing (PDS: 1.77 [95% CI = 1.67–1.87] versus 1.97 [95% CI = 1.85–2.10]) compared with those not exposed to adversities. Conclusions Associations between CA and pubertal development may vary by sex. Understanding the etiological role of adversities on pubertal development and identifying targets for intervention are of utmost importance in ameliorating the impact of CA on child health.

Sex-Specific Associations Between Trauma Exposure, Pubertal Timing, and Anxiety in Black Children

“…It is possible that if we had continued to follow these boys into their teenage years those with more trauma exposure would display faster pubertal tempo relative to those with low or no trauma. However, our results parallel those from a growing number of studies that report slower pubertal timing in boys who experience more ELS relative to those who experience less (Semiz et al, 2009;Johnson et al, 2018;Suglia et al, 2020).…”

“…This suggests that our measurement of puberty may have been less reliable for boys, perhaps in part because of their relatively early pubertal development. However, prior studies have also reported that ELS is linked to earlier pubertal timing in girls but delayed timing in boys from three different populations (Semiz et al, 2009;Johnson et al, 2018;Suglia et al, 2020). Studies that examine the associations between trauma, pubertal timing, and mental health in Black girls and boys at equivalent stages of development are needed to determine if the present results reflect true sex differences in the association between trauma and puberty or are an artifact of testing girls and boys at different stages of puberty.…”

“…Most prior studies examined the causes and consequences of accelerated pubertal timing separately (Henrichs et al, 2014;Negriff et al, 2015;Noll et al, 2017;Ullsperger and Nikolas, 2017;Suglia et al, 2020). One result of this approach is ambiguity about whether ELS-linked acceleration of pubertal timing is independent of or an indirect pathway through which ELS impacts mental health.…”

“…Some evidence suggests that for boys ELS may accelerate how quickly puberty progresses (tempo) rather than when puberty begins (timing; Negriff et al, 2015). Several studies have found opposite associations between ELS and puberty in girls vs. boys, such that ELS predicts earlier pubertal timing in girls but slower timing for boys (Semiz et al, 2009;Johnson et al, 2018;Suglia et al, 2020). Overall, fewer studies have examined associations between ELS and puberty in boys, and studies that include boys have yielded mixed results.…”

“…Prior studies with this cohort have identified associations between trauma exposure and both biomarkers and symptoms of anxiety (Jovanovic et al, 2014;Stenson et al, 2021), therefore we chose to focus on this aspect of mental health. We hypothesized that ELS would be associated with accelerated pubertal timing for girls (e.g., Colich et al, 2020a), but given the mixed findings in boys we anticipated that this association might differ for boys (Semiz et al, 2009;Kogan et al, 2015;Johnson et al, 2018;Suglia et al, 2020). We also hypothesized that pubertal timing would be positively associated with anxiety symptoms given prior findings from multiple populations (e.g., Ullsperger and Nikolas, 2017) and from this cohort (Jovanovic et al, 2014;Stenson et al, 2021), and that this association might be stronger for girls than boys.…”