Chronic, systemic inflammation is implicated in physical and mental health; little is known about whether sex and racial differences detected in adulthood are observed during adolescence or about ...normative changes occurring during adolescence. This longitudinal, United States-based study examined four biomarkers of systemic inflammation C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and IL-8) in 315 adolescents (51% female; 58% black; baseline age = 16.49 years (
SD
= 1.56; range: 12.14–21.28) at three timepoints. Notable results included: general decline in inflammatory biomarkers in older adolescents, lower levels of TNF-α/IL-8 in black adolescents, elevated CRP/IL-6 in females, and especially higher levels of IL-6 in black, female adolescents. Implications are discussed, particularly the potential health implications of elevated IL-6 in black females.
A better understanding of the maturational correlates of inflammatory activity during adolescence is needed to more appropriately study both normal and abnormal development. Inflammation is the ...immune system’s first response to infection, injury, or psychological stress, and it has been shown to be elevated in individuals with both physical and psychological conditions. This study examined unique associations between (1) pubertal status and inflammatory biomarkers, and (2) age and inflammatory biomarkers, and whether these relationships differed by sex in a diverse sample of 155 adolescents (54.2% female, 45.8% male;
M
age
= 16.22) from a northeastern city in the US. A more advanced pubertal status was uniquely associated with lower levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-8 (IL-8). Chronological age was uniquely associated with lower IL-8 levels. The association between pubertal status and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels differed by sex: more mature females had higher CRP, whereas pubertal status and CRP were not significantly associated in males. These findings highlight an important relation between pubertal development and inflammatory activity during adolescence.
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.
Negative inferential style is a cognitive vulnerability for depression. Yet, few studies have explored how this risk factor intersects with culturally-specific protective factors, such as racial ...identity, in a unified cognitive risk-cultural asset model in youth of color. The current study addressed this gap by exploring the interplay between negative inferential style, racial identity, and depressive symptoms in an urban African-American adolescent community sample (
N
= 233; 51.9% female). Cross-lagged panel analyses estimated concurrent and prospective relationships between study variables. Racial identity dimensions of regard, but not centrality, were significant predictors of inferential style, and buffered against the development of depressive symptoms via the development of a less negative inferential style. Implications for the study of racial identity and cognition, and treatment of African–American adolescents are discussed.
Accurately defining the individuals that research involves and generalizes to is critical for rigorous and reproducible science. In reproductive psychiatry, which historically focuses on the impact ...of the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause on mental health, this means moving beyond characterizing samples and relevant populations as “women” in favor of language that precisely identifies the physiological characteristics pertinent to the research being conducted and accurately reflects the varied genders represented in those populations. Concrete recommendations are provided for precise use of sex and gender terminology and gender inclusivity throughout the scientific process, including study conceptualization, etiquette in research environments, recruitment, methods, and dissemination. Recommendations are discussed in depth and presented in a checklist format for ease of use by research teams. Suggested items for assessing gender and relevant sex-related physiology in the context of reproductive psychiatry are also provided.
The current article systematically reviews the literature and provides results from 36 studies testing the relation between pubertal stage and depression, as well as moderators and mediators of this ...relation. Results indicate that there is a significant relation between advancing pubertal stage and depression among girls, and this effect is strongest among White girls. Among boys, risk for depression does not increase with pubertal stage. Importantly, gonadal development appears to be driving the pubertal stage effect. Increasing hormone concentrations, shared environmental stressors, and body esteem appear to be mechanisms of this relation; increases in nonshared environmental stressors (negative life events, peer victimization) moderate the relation between pubertal stage and depression. Inconsistencies in findings across studies can be explained by methodological differences. Future work on this topic should control for age, examine differences by sex, and utilize within-person analyses to evaluate the effect of pubertal stage on depression over time.
It has been hypothesized that pubertal development may contribute to the gender gap indepression that emerges during adolescence, but past work has been limited by the use of crosssectionalanalyses. ...The current study utilized multilevel parallel process growth models to testsex and racial differences in the association between within-person change in pubertal stage andwithin-person change in depressive symptoms across adolescence, controlling for age. Modelswere tested in a community sample of 608 youth aged 13 at baseline (Boys: M = 13.03, SD =0.80; Girls: M = 13.08, SD = 1.00) balanced on sex and race (Caucasian/White and AfricanAmerican/Black). It also tested body esteem, stressful life events, and peer victimization asmediators of this relation. Results suggested that depression increased with adrenal stage amongboys, but depression was unrelated to pubertal stage among girls. Further, there was no evidenceof racial differences in these associations. We did not find any evidence for body esteem,stressful life events, or peer victimization as mediators of the association between pubertal stage(adrenal or gonadal) and depressive symptoms. Limitations such as the age and advanceddevelopment among participants may explain these findings.
Individual differences in the timing and tempo of pubertal development have been shown to be related to depressive symptoms during adolescence, particularly among girls. Another measure of ...variability in pubertal development is pubertal synchrony, the degree to which the development of pubertal indicators (e.g., breast growth and ancillary hair growth) are synchronized within the individual. Pubertal synchrony also has been hypothesized to be related to depressive symptoms, but, to date, only one study has tested this hypothesis. However, it remains unclear whether pubertal synchrony confers risk for depressive symptoms more proximally in time or differentially among boys or non-White youth. The current study examined the relation between pubertal synchrony and depressive symptoms concurrently and six months later as a function of race and sex in a community sample of 215 youth (53% female, 44.7% African American; mean age = 12.90 years (SD = 0.86)). Girls with asynchronous development at Time 1 reported significantly higher depressive symptoms at Time 2 than girls with synchronous development and boys with asynchronous development. In addition, boys with asynchronous development at Time 1 had lower depressive symptoms at Time 2 than boys with synchronous development. Race did not moderate pubertal synchrony—depression relations. These results suggest that pubertal asynchrony is a risk factor for girls, but a protective factor for boys, and lend support for pubertal synchrony as a potential contributor to the gender gap in depression that emerges during adolescence.
•Suicidal ideation was the mood symptom most comorbid with problematic substance use.•Impulsive substance-related impairment was the most comorbid with mood symptoms.•Suicidal ideation was the ...strongest predictor of future problematic substance use.•Interpersonal substance-related impairment predicted future mood symptoms.•Mood symptoms are primarily outcomes, not predictors, of problematic substance use.
Background: Mood disorders and problematic substance use co-occur and confer reciprocal risk for each other. Few studies use analytic approaches appropriate for testing whether specific features of one disorder confer risk for the other. Methods: 445 participants (59.8% female, Mean age = 20.3 years) completed measures of depression and hypo/mania symptoms and substance use-related impairment; 330 had complete data at follow-up. Of these, 28% reported a history of depression, 4% of bipolar spectrum disorder, 11% of substance use disorder, and 55% reported substance-related impairment. Symptoms and domains of substance-related impairment were modeled in cross-sectional and cross-lagged panel network models. Results: Impulsive and interpersonal impairment were most highly comorbid with mood symptoms. Suicidal ideation, sadness, decreased need for sleep, and guilt were the symptoms most highly comorbid with impairment. Interpersonal impairment due to substance use was the strongest cross-construct predictor of mood symptoms and suicidal ideation was most predictive of impairment. Social, intrapersonal, and physical impairment due to substance use were most predicted by previous mood symptoms and decreased need for sleep, guilt, and euphoria were most strongly predicted by past impairment. Limitations: Measures do not assess all mood symptoms, participants with low reward sensitivity were excluded, only self-report measures were used, and some variables were single-items. Conclusions: Components of these syndromes that confer cross-construct risk might not be the same components that are predicted by the other construct. The bidirectional relationship between mood symptoms and problematic substance use might be better conceptualized at the element, rather than diagnostic, level.
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