Clarifying the Associations between Age at Menarche and Adolescent Emotional and Behavioral Problems

Abstract

Better understanding risk factors for the development of adolescent emotional and behavioral problems can help with intervention and prevention efforts. Previous studies have found that an early menarcheal age predicts several adolescent problems, including depressive symptoms, delinquency, and early age at first intercourse. Few studies, nevertheless, have explicitly tested (a) whether the associations with menarcheal age vary across racial/ethnic groups or (b) whether the sources of the associations are within-families (i.e., consistent with a direct, causal link) or only between-families (i.e., due to selection or confounding factors). The current study analyzed data from a nationally representative US Sample of females (N = 5,637). We examined whether race/ethnicity moderated the associations between early menarche and several adolescent problems by using multiple-group analyses and we examined the degree to which genetic and environmental factors shared by family members account for the associations by comparing sisters and cousins with differing menarcheal ages. Menarcheal age predicted subsequent depressive symptoms, delinquency, and early age at first intercourse in the population. The magnitudes of the associations were similar across all racial/ethnic groups for all outcomes. The within-family associations (i.e., when comparing siblings and cousins with different menarcheal age) were large and statistically significant when predicting early intercourse, but not the other outcomes. The findings suggest that selection or confounding factors account for the associations between menarcheal age and subsequent depressive symptoms and delinquency, whereas the independent association between menarcheal age and early age at first intercourse is consistent with a direct, causal effect.

Childhood body mass index at 5.5 years mediates the effect of prenatal maternal stress on daughters’ age at menarche: Project Ice Storm

“…[9][10][11][12][13] Finally, more risky sexual behaviors and younger age of first intercourse also correspond with earlier AAM. 14,15 As such, earlier AAM represents a risk factor of poor physical and psychological health.…”

Higher Childhood Red Meat Intake Frequency Is Associated with Earlier Age at Menarche

“…An early age at menarche is associated with breast (1) and endometrial (2) cancers, obesity (3), type II diabetes (4), cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality (5). In addition, early menarche has been related to risk factors during adolescence including alcohol and tobacco use, early sexual debut, and teenage pregnancy (6,7).…”

Relationship between early menarche, obesity, and disordered eating behaviors: a school-based cross-sectional survey in Northern Saudi Arabia

“…These expectations are actual stressors on young females who often find them difficult to overcome, often because they do not have the sufficient cognitive and emotional maturity to respond to such parental and peer expectations. 35 …”