Early Pubertal Timing Mediates the Association between Low Socioeconomic Status and Poor Attention and Executive Functioning in a Diverse Community Sample of Adolescents

Abstract

Low socioeconomic status (SES) may be associated with earlier pubertal timing and impaired attention and executive function (EF) in youth; however, whether pubertal timing mediates the relation between SES and attention or executive functioning remains unclear. Structural equation models tested concurrent and prospective relations between SES, pubertal timing, and attention and executive functioning measures in a gender and racially diverse sample of adolescents (N = 281, 45.6% male, 50.5% White/Caucasian, 46.3% Black/African American, 3.2% Biracial/other, and 44.5% low SES; complete data were not available on some measures). Youth from low SES families experienced earlier pubertal timing, and this accelerated development was associated with worse performance on attention and executive functioning tasks, both concurrently and longitudinally. These findings highlight a pathway by which youth from low socioeconomic backgrounds may develop worse attention and executive functioning abilities during adolescence.

Keywords: Adolescence; Attention; Executive functioning; Puberty; Socioeconomic status.

Figure 1:

Structural equation model examining concurrent and prospective associations of socioeconomic status, pubertal timing, and childhood stress with measures of executive functioning (EF) or attention over three years. Note: Dashed arrows indicate that pathways were constrained to be equal; all models controlled for early childhood stress; models predicting Sustained Attention also controlled for age and gender; socio-economic status is a composite of eligibility for the National School Lunch Program, maternal education, and income.