Longitudinal effects of family psychopathology and stress on pubertal maturation and hormone coupling in adolescent twins

Abstract

Adolescents experience profound neuroendocrine changes, including hormone "coupling" between cortisol, testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone. Emerging research has only begun to elucidate the role of hormone coupling, its genetic and environmental etiology, and the extent to which coupling is impacted by gender, puberty, and family context. We included measures on parent and child mental health, parenting stress, and family conflict of 444 twin pairs and their parents across two timepoints, when youth were on average 8 and 13 years old, respectively. Structural equation models examined the impact of family context effects on coupling during adolescence. Biometric twin models were then used to probe additive genetic, shared, and non-shared environmental effects on hormone coupling. Hormones were more tightly coupled for females than males, and coupling was sensitive to parental depression and co-twin psychopathology symptoms and stress exposure in females. The association between family context and coupling varied across specific neuroendocrine measures and was largely distinct from pubertal maturation. Biometric models revealed robust shared and non-shared environmental influences on coupling. We found that family antecedents modify the strength of coupling. Environmental influences account for much of the variation on coupling during puberty. Gender differences were found in genetic influences on coupling.

Increases in Circulating Cortisol during the COVID-19 Pandemic are Associated with Changes in Perceived Positive and Negative Affect among Adolescents

“…Generally, cortisol concentrations tend to increase in response to acute stressors, and basal levels of cortisol can become dysregulated in cases of chronic stress (Miller et al, 2007 ; Russell et al, 2012 ; Stalder et al, 2017 ). Greater increases in cortisol in response to a stressor (i.e., larger increases from basal levels following stress exposure) tend to be associated with greater perceived psychological distress, including increasing negative affect, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and post-traumatic stress (Phan et al, 2020 ; Stalder et al, 2017 ; Steudte-Schmiedgen et al, 2015 ).…”

Introduction to the SEED Science special issue

“…In a third paper, Phan et al. (2022) use a large twin study with measurement of cortisol, testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), parent and child mental health, parenting stress, and family conflict to examine hormone coupling as it relates to stress. Similar to several previously discussed studies, among twins assigned as female at birth, hormones were more tightly coupled and sensitive to parent and co‐twin mental health symptoms.…”

“…They find weak evidence for this effect, and only in 8-to 12-year-old girls, identifying the need for more attention to explanatory pathways between ELS and adulthood inflammatory disease. In a third paper,Phan et al (2022) use a large twin study with measurement of cortisol, testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), parent and child mental health, parenting stress, and family conflict to examine hormone coupling as it relates to stress. Similar to several previously discussed studies, among twins assigned as female at birth, hormones were more tightly coupled and sensitive to parent and co-twin mental health symptoms.Much of the work reviewed here has an implicit diathesis-stress model approach, which expects stressful experiences to have negative impacts, with linear or thresholded effects, that are similar across individuals.…”

Childhood inhibition predicts adolescent social anxiety: Findings from a longitudinal twin study

“…The PBIP shows good reliability and validity for measuring pubertal development (Coleman & Coleman, 2002). Using scoring developed by Shirtcliff et al (2009) and used in prior research with this sample (Phan et al, 2021), we calculated pubertal stage scores that mapped onto the Tanner stage scale metric. Tanner stages and the pubertal development stage were standardized within measure and then averaged to form a puberty score.…”