Puberty differentially predicts brain maturation in male and female youth: A longitudinal ABCD Study

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatric Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway; NORMENT, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: dani.beck@psykologi.uio.no.
² PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
³ Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Psychiatric Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway; NORMENT, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
⁵ NORMENT, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
⁶ Univ Rennes, CNRS, Inria, Inserm, IRISA UMR 6074, EMPENN - ERL U 1228, Rennes, France.
⁷ NORMENT, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
⁸ PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway; Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
⁹ NORMENT, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Oslo, Norway.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatric Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway; NORMENT, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹¹ NORMENT, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway; KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Oslo, Norway.

PMID: 37295068
PMCID: PMC10311153
DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101261

Puberty differentially predicts brain maturation in male and female youth: A longitudinal ABCD Study

Dani Beck et al. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2023 Jun.

. 2023 Jun:61:101261.

doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101261. Epub 2023 Jun 7.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatric Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway; NORMENT, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: dani.beck@psykologi.uio.no.
² PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
³ Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Psychiatric Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway; NORMENT, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
⁵ NORMENT, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
⁶ Univ Rennes, CNRS, Inria, Inserm, IRISA UMR 6074, EMPENN - ERL U 1228, Rennes, France.
⁷ NORMENT, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
⁸ PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway; Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
⁹ NORMENT, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Oslo, Norway.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatric Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway; NORMENT, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹¹ NORMENT, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway; KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Oslo, Norway.

PMID: 37295068
PMCID: PMC10311153
DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101261

Abstract

Research has demonstrated associations between pubertal development and brain maturation. However, existing studies have been limited by small samples, cross-sectional designs, and inconclusive findings regarding directionality of effects and sex differences. We examined the longitudinal temporal coupling of puberty status assessed using the Pubertal Development Scale (PDS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based grey and white matter brain structure. Our sample consisted of 8896 children and adolescents at baseline (mean age = 9.9) and 6099 at follow-up (mean age = 11.9) from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study cohort. Applying multigroup Bivariate Latent Change Score (BLCS) models, we found that baseline PDS predicted the rate of change in cortical thickness among females and rate of change in cortical surface area for both males and females. We also found a correlation between baseline PDS and surface area and co-occurring changes over time in males. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) analyses revealed correlated change between PDS and fractional anisotropy (FA) for both males and females, but no significant associations for mean diffusivity (MD). Our results suggest that pubertal status predicts cortical maturation, and that the strength of the associations differ between sex. Further research spanning the entire duration of puberty is needed to understand the extent and contribution of pubertal development on the youth brain.

Keywords: ABCD Study; Adolescence; Brain maturation; Development; Longitudinal; Puberty.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Age (left) and PDS (right) distribution of the study sample, split by sex and timepoint. Dotted line between plots connects the mean age and PDS values at baseline (timepoint 1) and follow-up (timepoint 2). Age and total PDS scores shown as distributions where green represents females and purple represents males.

**Fig. 2**
Bivariate latent change score (BLCS) model with two timepoints, examining correlation between pubertal status (PDS) and brain MRI metric (MRI) at baseline (purple), to what extent pubertal status at baseline predicts the rate of change in brain MRI metric (blue: $γ$ 1), to what extent brain MRI metric at baseline predicts the rate of change in pubertal status (blue: $γ$ 2), and whether changes in PDS and MRI co-occur (yellow) after considering the coupling ( $γ$ 1, $γ$ 2) pathways. Image adapted from Kievit et al. (2018) with permission from author.

**Fig. 3**
Graph showing the multigroup BLCS models for fractional anisotropy (FA) and PDS relations.

**Fig. 4**
Graph showing the multigroup BLCS models for mean diffusivity (MD) and PDS relations.

**Fig. 5**
Graph showing the multigroup BLCS models for cortical thickness (CT) and PDS relations.

**Fig. 6**
Graph showing the multigroup BLCS models for surface area (SA) and PDS relations.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Puberty differentially predicts brain maturation in male and female youth: A longitudinal ABCD Study

Affiliations

Puberty differentially predicts brain maturation in male and female youth: A longitudinal ABCD Study

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Miscellaneous