Maltreatment type differences in cortisol stress response trajectories across adolescence.

This study examined cortisol stress response trajectories across adolescence in 454 maltreated and comparison youth recruited from Los Angeles County between 2002 and 2005 (66.7% maltreated; 46.7% girls; 39.

Associations between HPA axis reactivity and PTSD and depressive symptoms: Importance of maltreatment type and puberty.

The functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is implicated in the etiology and maintenance of depressive and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. However, different maltreatment experiences as well as the increased sensitivity of the HPA axis during puberty may alter associations between the HPA axis and mental health. To address these gaps, the current study examined the potential bidirectional associations between cortisol reactivity to a stressor, PTSD symptoms, and depressive symptoms among early adolescents across two time points, 1 year apart ( = 454; Mage = 10.

The Young Adolescent Project: A longitudinal study of the effects of maltreatment on adolescent development.

The Young Adolescent Project (YAP) is an ongoing longitudinal study investigating the effects of abuse and neglect on adolescent development. It is a multidisciplinary study guided by a developmental, ecological perspective, and designed to consider the physical, social, and psychological effects of childhood maltreatment through the transition from childhood to adolescence. Four waves of data collection have been completed, ranging from early (Mean age = 10.

The Moderating Role of Cortisol Reactivity on the Link Between Maltreatment and Body Mass Index Trajectory Across Adolescence.

Purpose: Child maltreatment increases risk for obesity, yet differential effects of maltreatment type remain unclear. Cortisol reactivity may help clarify these effects, given links among cortisol reactivity, maltreatment, and obesity. We examined these associations in boys and girls across adolescence.

Conceptualizing Puberty as a Window of Opportunity for Impacting Health and Well-Being Across the Life Span.

We promote the perspective that puberty, a separate biological process embedded in adolescence, is a "window of opportunity" for understanding and impacting health and development. First, we include a brief overview of pubertal change. Second, we propose a critical role for puberty in shaping life span health due to its connections with early life precursors, health issues and risks emerging during puberty, and health in young adulthood and beyond.

Interdisciplinary Work Is Essential for Research on Puberty: Complexity and Dynamism in Action.

Puberty is associated with changes in behavior and psychosocial well-being, and is important in lifelong health. We present five different facets regarding interdisciplinary research that are important to puberty. A short history of philosophical issues instrumental in promoting early interdisciplinary research is first presented.

The New Biobehavioral Developmental Science of Puberty.

This special section is the product of a small-group meeting of those who study puberty and its relevance. Our aim was to gather information and write manuscripts to inform scientists of advances and continuing obstacles, as well as to stimulate interdisciplinary research on puberty relevant across the lifespan. The themes of the nine position or review papers (and commentary), range from cell to society.

Changes to sleep-wake behaviors are associated with trajectories of pubertal timing and tempo of secondary sex characteristics.

We examined relations between sleep-wake behaviors and pubertal development from age 8.5 through 15.5 years in a US-based sample of 488 boys (75% White) and 478 girls (78% White).

Longitudinal Relationship Between Mental Health Symptoms and Sleep Disturbances and Duration in Maltreated and Comparison Adolescents.

Purpose: To examine the longitudinal relationships between mental health symptoms and sleep for male and female maltreated and comparison adolescents.

Methods: Participants were from a longitudinal study of child maltreatment (maltreated n = 247; comparison n = 138). The current analyses used data from Time 3 (T3; average age 13.

Longitudinal synergies between cortisol reactivity and diurnal testosterone and antisocial behavior in young adolescents.

The aims were to identify the correspondence between simultaneous, longitudinal changes in cortisol reactivity and diurnal testosterone and to test the hypothesis that cortisol reactivity and diurnal testosterone interact so as to influence antisocial behavior. Participants were 135 children and young adolescents assessed at 6-month intervals over 1 year. Upon enrollment girls were age 8, 10, or 12 years (N = 69, M = 10.

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Early Timing of Puberty.

Purpose: The purpose was to examine whether the timing of puberty, indexed by breast development and pubic hair development, was earlier for sexually abused females compared with a matched comparison group of nonabused females, controlling for key alternative confounds.

Methods: A cohort of sexually abused females and matched comparisons was followed longitudinally at mean ages 11 through 20 years. Sexually abused participants (N = 84) were referred by protective services.

Cortisol Stress Response Variability in Early Adolescence: Attachment, Affect and Sex.

Attachment, affect, and sex shape responsivity to psychosocial stress. Concurrent social contexts influence cortisol secretion, a stress hormone and biological marker of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. Patterns of attachment, emotion status, and sex were hypothesized to relate to bifurcated, that is, accentuated and attenuated, cortisol reactivity.

Morningness-Eveningness and Physical Activity in Adolescent Girls: Menarche as a Transition Point.

This study identified trajectories of morningness-eveningness (M-E) and physical activity when chronological (i.e., time since birth) versus gynecological (i.

Cortisol profiles: A test for adaptive calibration of the stress response system in maltreated and nonmaltreated youth.

Throughout the life span, exposure to chronic stress such as child maltreatment is thought to contribute to future dysfunction of the stress response system (SRS) through the process of adaptive calibration. Dysfunction of the SRS is associated with numerous health and behavior problems, so it is important to understand under what conditions and what time frame adaptive calibration occurs. The present study tested for adaptive calibration of the SRS in a sample of maltreated (n = 303) and nonmaltreated (n = 151) youth during the important developmental period of adolescence.

A study of cortisol reactivity and recovery among young adolescents: Heterogeneity and longitudinal stability and change.

The dominance of reactivity-based theories of the cortisol response and lack of attention to cortisol recovery makes it difficult to compile an integrated theory of the stress response. This report examined a reactivity and recovery model of the cortisol response using variable-centered and person-centered approaches. Age and sex differences and heterogeneity in the pattern of cortisol response were examined.

Variability in diurnal testosterone, exposure to violence, and antisocial behavior in young adolescents.

The purpose of this report is to provide evidence of an association between within-person variability in diurnal testosterone over 1 year, lifetime exposure to violence, and the manifestation of antisocial behavior in 135 pubertal-aged adolescents across 1 year. Adolescents' sex and lifetime history of violence exposure moderated the association between within-person variability in diurnal testosterone and antisocial behavior. Furthermore, sex-stratified analyses revealed that lifetime history of exposure to violence moderated the association between within-person variability in diurnal testosterone and antisocial behavior in females only.

Testosterone trajectories and reference ranges in a large longitudinal sample of male adolescents.

Purpose: Pubertal dynamics plays an important role in physical and psychological development of children and adolescents. We aim to provide reference ranges of plasma testosterone in a large longitudinal sample. Furthermore, we describe a measure of testosterone trajectories during adolescence that can be used in future investigations of development.

Attenuated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning predicts accelerated pubertal development in girls 1 year later.

Accelerated pubertal development has been linked to adverse early environments and may heighten subsequent mental and physical health risks. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning has been posited as a mechanism whereby stress may affect pubertal development, but the literature lacks prospective tests of this mechanism. The current study assessed 277 youth (M = 10.

Prenatal cocaine exposure differentially affects stress responses in girls and boys: associations with future substance use.

Prenatal cocaine exposure may affect developing stress response systems in youth, potentially creating risk for substance use in adolescence. Further, pathways from prenatal risk to future substance use may differ for girls versus boys. The present longitudinal study examined multiple biobehavioral measures, including heart rate, blood pressure, emotion, and salivary cortisol and salivary alpha amylase (sAA), in response to a stressor in 193 low-income 14- to 17-year-olds, half of whom were prenatally cocaine exposed (PCE).

Developmental and contextual considerations for adrenal and gonadal hormone functioning during adolescence: Implications for adolescent mental health.

Substantial research has implicated the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axes independently in adolescent mental health problems, though this literature remains largely inconclusive. Given the cross-talk between the HPA and HPG axes and their increased activation in adolescence, a dual-axis approach that examines both axes simultaneously is proposed to predict the emergence and persistence of adolescent mental health problems. After briefly orienting readers to HPA and HPG axis functioning, we review the literature examining associations between hormone levels and changes with behavior during adolescence.

Within-adolescent coupled changes in cortisol with DHEA and testosterone in response to three stressors during adolescence.

It is hypothesized that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axes function together to maintain adaptive functioning during stressful situations differently in adolescence than the characteristic inverse relations found in adulthood. We examined within-person correlated changes (coupling) in cortisol, DHEA and testosterone in response to parent-adolescent conflict discussion, social performance, and venipuncture paradigms. Data are derived from two samples of boys and girls from the Northeastern US (213 adolescents aged 11-16, M=13.

Stress reactivity in maltreated and comparison male and female young adolescents.

The purpose of the present report was to examine the association of recent maltreatment experiences with cortisol reactivity in young adolescents. The ethnically diverse sample consisted of boys and girls 9 to 12 years of age. The maltreatment group (N = 303) all had recent, substantiated reports to protective services for neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and/or emotional maltreatment.

Overweight trajectories and psychosocial adjustment among adolescents.

Objectives: Few studies have investigated overweight trajectories and psychosocial adjustment among adolescents. We conducted analyses with data from the multisite Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD).

Methods: The sample included 1350 youths born in 1991.