Correspondence Between Perceived Pubertal Development and Hormone Levels in 9-10 Year-Olds From the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study

Abstract

Aim: To examine individual variability between perceived physical features and hormones of pubertal maturation in 9-10-year-old children as a function of sociodemographic characteristics.

Methods: Cross-sectional metrics of puberty were utilized from the baseline assessment of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study-a multi-site sample of 9-10 year-olds (n = 11,875)-and included perceived physical features via the pubertal development scale (PDS) and child salivary hormone levels (dehydroepiandrosterone and testosterone in all, and estradiol in females). Multi-level models examined the relationships among sociodemographic measures, physical features, and hormone levels. A group factor analysis (GFA) was implemented to extract latent variables of pubertal maturation that integrated both measures of perceived physical features and hormone levels.

Results: PDS summary scores indicated more males (70%) than females (31%) were prepubertal. Perceived physical features and hormone levels were significantly associated with child's weight status and income, such that more mature scores were observed among children that were overweight/obese or from households with low-income. Results from the GFA identified two latent factors that described individual differences in pubertal maturation among both females and males, with factor 1 driven by higher hormone levels, and factor 2 driven by perceived physical maturation. The correspondence between latent factor 1 scores (hormones) and latent factor 2 scores (perceived physical maturation) revealed synchronous and asynchronous relationships between hormones and concomitant physical features in this large young adolescent sample.

Conclusions: Sociodemographic measures were associated with both objective hormone and self-report physical measures of pubertal maturation in a large, diverse sample of 9-10 year-olds. The latent variables of pubertal maturation described a complex interplay between perceived physical changes and hormone levels that hallmark sexual maturation, which future studies can examine in relation to trajectories of brain maturation, risk/resilience to substance use, and other mental health outcomes.

Keywords: adolescent brain cognitive development; dehydroepiandrosterone; estradiol; pubertal development scale; puberty; salivary hormones; testosterone.

Figure 1

Decision tree for quality checking and generating a single hormone metric per participant at baseline (9–10 years old) (e.g., saliva assayed in duplicates, considerations for methodological concerns that may influence hormone level). Briefly, data were retained if (1) the sex specified during saliva collection matches sex at birth, as reported by parent participants, (2) if a salivary hormone sample was collected, and (3) if that sample had been processed. Replicate samples that fell below detection limits or were endorsed as problematic by research assistants (RAs) were not used to calculate participants’ hormone levels (4–6). NDS, not detectable sample; R1, Replicate 1. R2, Replicate 2.

Figure 2

Frequencies (N) for caregiver summary scores from the Pubertal Development Scale (PDS). (A) Average PDS score ranging from 1=not begun to 4=complete; (B) Pubertal Category score ranging from pre- to post- pubertal; (C) Adrenal score averaging adrenal PDS items and ranging from 1=not begun to 4=complete; (D) Gonadal score averaging gonadal PDS items and ranging from 1=not begun to 4=complete.

Figure 3

Caregiver based Pubertal Development Scale (PDS) summary scores and hormone levels by sex. For each sex, hormone levels are plotted by PDS summary scores, including (A) Pubertal Status Category, (B) Average PDS of all items, (C) Gonadal Score of PDS, and (D) Adrenal Score of PDS. Line represents cubic spline function of the data. Females are plotted by menarche status.

Figure 4

Post-hoc comparisons of sex differences in the associations between sociodemographic measures and pubertal outcomes of (A) PDS Average, (B) DHEA, (C) Estradiol, (D) Testosterone. Means and standard error (SE) for the fixed effects of weight status, race/ethnicity, highest parental education, and household income by sex, while adjusting for means of all other variables in the model. Lines denote p <0.05 using Tukey multiple comparison correction. HS, High school; GED, General Education Development. Income binned into a numerically coded factor representing low (<$50k), middle ($50–$100k), and high (≥$100k) income.

Figure 5

Latent factor loadings (median and 95% confidence intervals) of each predictor as identified by the two robust components of the group factor analyses. These analyses examined within and between variance in both perceived physical changes from the PDS as well as hormone levels in males (A, B) and females (C, D). These two latent factors capture the wide range of individual variability seen between physical and hormone metrics of early puberty among children, with latent factor 1 driven by hormone levels, and the latent factor 2 driven by physical maturation. Latent factor 1 accounted for 22.87% of variance of the pubertal measurements in (A) males and 31.16% in females (C). Latent factor 2 accounted for 15.77% of variance of the pubertal measurements in males (B) and 16.35% in females (D).

Figure 6

Individual differences in pubertal maturation as characterized by latent factors. Plots show individual scores (lighter, smaller colored shapes) as well as group-means (darker, larger colored shapes) of latent factor 1 (LF 1) and latent factor 2 (LF 2) in females (A–C) and males (D, E) by average score of physical features reported on the Pubertal Development Scale (PDS) (shape) as well as quartile range (color) of testosterone (A, D), DHEA (B, E), or estradiol (C). Opposite of each axis shows the marginal density plot of each latent factor as a function of each quartile of the given hormone (top: LF 1 by hormone density plot, right: LF 2 by hormone density plot). The correspondence between the two latent factors together captures synchrony and asynchrony between hormones and concomitant perceived physical features across this large child sample (F). Synchronous patterns are represented among individuals with a lower LF 1 and lower LF 2 scores who are pre-pubertal with low hormone levels (pink circle), and among individuals with a higher LF 1 and higher LF 2 scores who are the most advanced in physical maturation with high hormone levels (purple square or cross-hair). Opposing scores between LF 1 and LF 2 (e.g. higher LF 1 but lower LF 2 scores, or lower LF 1 but higher LF 2 scores) indicate a more asynchronous pattern between hormone levels and physical features.

Figure 7

Latent factors and sociodemographic characteristics. Plots show individual scores (lighter, smaller colored shapes) as well as group-means (darker, larger colored shapes) of latent factor 1 (LF 1) and latent factor 2 (LF 2) in females and males by weight status (A, B), race/ethnicity (C, D), highest parental education (E, F), and household income (G, H). Opposite of each axis shows the marginal density plot of each latent factor as a function of each sociodemographic measure. Group differences in pubertal maturation is apparent after integrating hormone levels and physical features using individual latent factors, with more advanced pubertal maturation seen (higher LF 1 and LF 2 scores) for overweight/obese versus underweight/healthy weight (A, B) as well as Black versus White, Hispanic, Asian, and Other (multi-race) (C, D) with larger effects seen in females as compared to males.