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.