Vision contributes to sex differences in spatial cognition and activity interests.

Sex differences in a variety of psychological characteristics are well-documented, with substantial research focused on factors that affect their magnitude and causes. Particular attention has focused on mental rotation, a measure of spatial cognition, and on activity interests. We studied whether sex differences in visual perception-luminance contrast thresholds and motion duration thresholds-contribute to sex differences in mental rotation and interest in male-typed activities.

Evidence and Implications from a Natural Experiment of Prenatal Androgen Effects on Gendered Behavior.

Sex and gender are key to people's lives, and are the focus of scientific and popular interest and controversy. Sex-related psychological characteristics reflect more than socialization; they are influenced by sex hormones present during sensitive periods of development, particularly prenatal androgens. Studies of females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) show how prenatal androgens affect behavior across the life span, with large effects on gendered activity interests and engagement, moderate effects on spatial abilities, and relatively small (or no) effects on gender identity, gender cognitions, and gendered peer involvement.

Family environmental antecedents of pubertal timing in girls and boys: A review and open questions.

Across nonhuman species, pubertal timing is affected by the social environment, with consequences for reproductive success and behavior. In human beings, variations in pubertal timing have not been systematically examined in relation to social environmental antecedents, although their psychological consequences are well documented. This paper focuses on links in human beings between pubertal timing and the childhood social environment, with several sections: A review of studies relating pubertal timing to the family context, a key aspect of the social environment; challenges in studying the issue; and opportunities for future work that takes advantage of and creates links with evidence in other species.

Prenatal androgen influences on the brain: A review, critique, and illustration of research on congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

Sex hormones, especially androgens, contribute to sex and gender differences in the brain and behavior. Organizational effects are particularly important because they are thought to be permanent, reflecting hormone exposure during sensitive periods of development. In human beings, they are often studied with natural experiments in which sex hormones are dissociated from other biopsychosocial aspects of development, such as genes and experiences.

Family Experiences and Parent Personality as Antecedents of Pubertal Timing in Girls and Boys.

Pubertal timing may be influenced by typical variations in early family environmental events, but questions remain concerning the roles of specific parenting factors, developmental age of exposure to events, moderation by child temperament, and comparability of effects for girls and boys. This study focused on these questions utilizing longitudinal data from 733 same-sex twins (45% girls) in the U.S.

Consensus Parameter: Research Methodologies to Evaluate Neurodevelopmental Effects of Pubertal Suppression in Transgender Youth.

Pubertal suppression is standard of care for early pubertal transgender youth to prevent the development of undesired and distressing secondary sex characteristics incongruent with gender identity. Preliminary evidence suggests pubertal suppression improves mental health functioning. Given the widespread changes in brain and cognition that occur during puberty, a critical question is whether this treatment impacts neurodevelopment.

Does puberty affect the development of behavior problems as a mediator, moderator, or unique predictor?

Pubertal timing matters for psychological development. Early maturation in girls is linked to risk for depression and externalizing problems in adolescence and possibly adulthood, and early and late maturation in boys are linked to depression. It is unclear whether pubertal timing uniquely predicts problems; it might instead mediate the continuity of behavior problems from childhood to adolescence or create psychological risk specifically in youth with existing problems, thus moderating the link.

Evidence needed to understand gender identity: Commentary on Turban & Ehrensaft (2018).

Turban and Ehrensaft (2018) have provided a thoughtful review of transgender identity in children and adolescents, emphasizing the benefits of the affirmative approach in maintaining positive psychological health in transgender individuals. The review reveals significant gaps in our understanding of gender identity regarding its nature, development, plasticity, causes, and links with other aspects of gender, and of the long-term benefits and costs of childhood social transitions. A full understanding of transgender identity requires studying cisgender identity too, and recognition that gender identity is continuous, develops across time and is not synonymous with gender expression or variations in gender-typed characteristics.

From Genes to Behavior Through Sex Hormones and Socialization: The Example of Gender Development.

Irving Gottesman is known primarily for his work in psychopathology, but he also had a long-standing interest in understanding psychological development generally (typical and atypical). Through his mentorship, he also influenced work in gender development. Characteristics related to sex and gender are ideally suited to study the interplay of genes and environment across development.

Beyond Pink and Blue: The Complexity of Early Androgen Effects on Gender Development.

Why do girls and women differ from boys and men? Gender development is typically considered to result from socialization, but sex hormones present during sensitive periods of development, particularly prenatal androgens, play an important role. Data from natural experiments, especially from females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, show the complexity of the effects of androgens on behavior: Prenatal androgens apparently have large effects on interests and engagement in gendered activities; moderate effects on spatial abilities; and relatively small or no effects on gender identity, gender cognitions, and gendered peer involvement. These differential effects provide an opportunity to move beyond identifying sources of variation in behavior to understanding developmental processes.

Gendered Peer Involvement in Girls with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia: Effects of Prenatal Androgens, Gendered Activities, and Gender Cognitions.

A key question in understanding gender development concerns the origins of sex segregation. Children's tendencies to interact with same-sex others have been hypothesized to result from gender identity and cognitions, behavioral compatibility, and personal characteristics. We examined whether prenatal androgen exposure was related to time spent with boys and girls, and how that gendered peer involvement was related to sex-typed activities and gender identity and cognitions.

Linking Prenatal Androgens to Gender-Related Attitudes, Identity, and Activities: Evidence From Girls With Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia.

Key questions for developmentalists concern the origins of gender attitudes and their implications for behavior. We examined whether prenatal androgen exposure was related to gender attitudes, and whether and how the links between attitudes and gendered activity interest and participation were mediated by gender identity and moderated by hormones. Gender attitudes (i.

Gender Assignment, Reassignment and Outcome in Disorders of Sex Development: Update of the 2005 Consensus Conference.

Background: Societal changes are increasingly moving the conceptualization of gender from a set of binary categories towards a bimodal continuum, which along with the cautious conclusions resulting from the 2005 Consensus Conference influences gender-related clinical work with patients with disorders of sex development.

Objective: This article provides an update of these developments over the past decade along with an overview of pertinent new data.

Conclusion: Considerably more research is needed on larger sample sizes with systematic long-term follow-up to ground the emerging trends in clinical management of the highly diverse disorders of sex development syndromes in a solid empirical basis.

How Early Hormones Shape Gender Development.

Many important psychological characteristics show sex differences, and are influenced by sex hormones at different developmental periods. We focus on the role of sex hormones in early development, particularly the differential effects of prenatal androgens on aspects of gender development. Increasing evidence confirms that prenatal androgens have facilitative effects on male-typed activity interests and engagement (including child toy preferences and adult careers), and spatial abilities, but relatively minimal effects on gender identity.

Sex differences in resting state brain function of cigarette smokers and links to nicotine dependence.

Sex--a marker of biological and social individual differences--matters for drug use, particularly for cigarette smoking, which is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. More men than women smoke, but women are less likely than men to quit. Resting state brain function, or intrinsic brain activity that occurs in the absence of a goal-directed task, is important for understanding cigarette smoking, as it has been shown to differentiate between smokers and nonsmokers.

Oral contraceptives and cognition: A role for ethinyl estradiol.

This article is part of a Special Issue "Estradiol and cognition". Estrogens have been seen to play a role in human cognitive abilities, but questions remain about the cognitive impact of ethinyl estradiol, which is contained in many oral contraceptives (OCs). Inconsistencies in past studies likely reflect small samples and heterogeneous groups of OC users.

Genetic influences on pubertal development and links to behavior problems.

Genetic influences on adolescent psychological development are likely to be mediated and moderated by pubertal hormones. Combining genetic analyses with advanced models of pubertal development, we extended work on the measurement and psychological significance of puberty. We examined how genetic and environmental influences on puberty vary by the way that development is described (logistic versus linear models versus traditional methods) and the different aspects of puberty (adrenarche vs.

Psychological assessment of mothers and their daughters at the time of diagnosis of precocious puberty.

Background: Concerns about psychological distress are often used to justify treatment of girls with precocious puberty, but there is little evidence to support these concerns. The extent to which psychological problems are associated with central precocious puberty (CPP) compared with other forms of early puberty in girls has likewise not been established.

Methods: Girls presenting with untreated CPP, premature adrenarche (PA) or early normal puberty (ENP) were recruited from our pediatric endocrine clinic along with their mothers.

The importance of puberty for adolescent development: conceptualization and measurement.

How and why are teenagers different from children and adults? A key question concerns the ways in which pubertal development shapes psychological changes in adolescence directly through changes to the brain and indirectly through the social environment. Empirical work linking pubertal development to adolescent psychological function draws from several different perspectives, often with varying approaches and a focus on different outcomes and mechanisms. The main themes concern effects of atypical pubertal timing on behavior problems during adolescence, effects of pubertal status (and associated hormones) on normative changes in behaviors that can facilitate or hinder development (especially risk-taking, social reorientation, and stress responsivity), and the role of puberty in triggering psychopathology in vulnerable individuals.

Modeling pubertal timing and tempo and examining links to behavior problems.

Research on the role of puberty in adolescent psychological development requires attention to the meaning and measurement of pubertal development. Particular questions concern the utility of self-report, the need for complex models to describe pubertal development, the psychological significance of pubertal timing vs. tempo, and sex differences in the nature and psychological significance of pubertal development.

Brain responses to sexual images in 46,XY women with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome are female-typical.

Androgens, estrogens, and sex chromosomes are the major influences guiding sex differences in brain development, yet their relative roles and importance remain unclear. Individuals with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS) offer a unique opportunity to address these issues. Although women with CAIS have a Y chromosome, testes, and produce male-typical levels of androgens, they lack functional androgen receptors preventing responding to their androgens.