Pubertal timing mediates the association between threat adversity and psychopathology

Abstract

Background: Exposure to adversity in childhood is a risk factor for lifetime mental health problems. Altered pace of biological aging, as measured through pubertal timing, is one potential explanatory pathway for this risk. This study examined whether pubertal timing mediated the association between adversity (threat and deprivation) and adolescent mental health problems (internalizing and externalizing), and whether this was moderated by sex.

Methods: Aims were examined using the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study, a large community sample from the United States. Data were used from three timepoints across the ages of 9-14 years. Latent scores from confirmatory factor analysis operationalized exposure to threat and deprivation. Bayesian mixed-effects regression models tested whether pubertal timing in early adolescence mediated the relationship between adversity exposure and later internalizing and externalizing problems. Sex was examined as a potential moderator of this pathway.

Results: Both threat and deprivation were associated with later internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Threat, but not deprivation, was associated with earlier pubertal timing, which mediated the association of threat with internalizing and externalizing problems. Sex differences were only observed in the direct association between adversity and internalizing problems, but no such differences were present for mediating pathways.

Conclusions: Adversity exposure had similar associations with the pace of biological aging (as indexed by pubertal timing) and mental health problems in males and females. However, the association of adversity on pubertal timing appears to depend on the dimension of adversity experienced, with only threat conferring risk of earlier pubertal timing.

Keywords: adverse childhood experiences; childhood trauma; developmental psychology; puberty.

Figure 1.

Outline of mediation and moderated mediation models.

Figure 2.

Indirect effects of pubertal timing on adversity and mental health problems. Note. Bayesian mixed-effects regression models were used to estimate associations between adversity dimensions (threat and deprivation), pubertal timing, and mental health problems (internalizing and externalizing). Points represent the mean quantile interval of posterior distribution estimates, with values labeled on the bottom horizontal axis. The 99% CIs are represented with capped error bars and 95% CIs with an overlapping bolded line. Mediation model pathways are shown in alphabetized vertical panels: (a) adversity exposure and pubertal timing, (b) pubertal timing and mental health problems, (c) adversity exposure and mental health problems, and (d) indirect effect of pubertal timing. Models are presented in horizontal panels and are labeled on the right vertical axis. The results were unchanged when mean parent education and the additional adversity measure were included as covariates (results are available in online Supplementary Table S9).

Figure 3.

Sex differences in the direct effect of adversity exposure on mental health problems. Note. Plotted data are the posterior distribution of a Bayesian regression analysis. Dimensional adversity exposure is plotted on the x-axis and mental health problems on the y-axis. Effects for females represented in solid line and males in dotted line. The effect of adversity on internalizing problems was significant at 95% CIs for males (threat [0.14350–0.48423], deprivation [0.08053–0.31319]) and females (threat [0.07175–0.24211], deprivation [0.04026–0.15660]).