Association between racial/ethnic discrimination and pubertal development in early adolescence

Abstract

Racial health disparities in the United States are a major concern, with Black or African Americans experiencing more morbidity and mortality at earlier ages compared to White Americans. More data is needed on the biological underpinnings of this phenomenon. One potential explanation for racial health disparities is that of accelerated aging, which is associated with increased stress exposure. Black Americans face disproportionate levels of environmental stress, specifically racial/ethnic discrimination. Here we investigated associations between self-reported experiences of discrimination and pubertal development (PD) in a diverse sample of young American adolescents (N = 11,235, mean age 10.9 years, 20.5% Black participants) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Compared to their non-Black counterparts, Black youth experienced more racial/ethnic discrimination in the past year (10.4% vs 3.1%) and had a greater likelihood of being in late/post-pubertal status (3.6% vs 1.5% in boys, 21.3% vs 11.4% in girls). In both sexes, multivariable regression models run in the full sample revealed a cross-sectional association of experiences of racial/ethnic discrimination with pubertal development (boys: standardized beta [β]=0.123, P < .001; girls: β = 0.110, P < .001) covarying for demographics, BMI, and dietary habits. Associations remained significant when controlling for multiple other environmental confounders including other forms of (non-racial/ethnic) discrimination and other environmental adversities including poverty and negative life events, and when using parent-reported assessment of pubertal development. Furthermore, racial/ethnic discrimination was associated with elevated estradiol levels in girls (β = 0.057, P = .002). Findings suggest an association between experiences of discrimination and pubertal development that is independent of multiple environmental stressors. Future longitudinal studies are warranted to establish causal mechanism.

Keywords: Adolescence; Discrimination; Health disparities; Puberty; Stress.

Figure 1.. Sex and racial/ethnic differences in progression of pubertal development in the ABCD Study sample

Youth-reported pubertal development is displayed in relation to sex (boys/girls) and race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic). Darker color signifies more advanced pubertal development in both sexes.

Figure 2.. Predicted stage of pubertal development by frequency of experiences of discrimination

Mean score on the ABCD discrimination questionnaire is plotted against unstandardized predicted value of PDS score derived from a linear regression using mean discrimination score as the independent variable and youth-reported pubertal development as the dependent variable. Model covaries for age, race, ethnicity, BMI, and dietary habits. Abbreviations: ABCD = Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development; BMI = body mass index.