P3C070: Applying Life History Theory to Early Female Puberty in the ABCD Cohort

Background: Early female puberty increases the risk of psychosocial, mental, and physical health problems, and has been associated with exposure to adversity. This association may be explained by Life History Theory (LHT), which posits that multi-generational exposure to adversity and deprivation influences pubertal maturation to promote reproduction and species survival under duress. We tested LHT by examining the relative contributions of distal and proximal adversities on early puberty among female participants in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study.

Methods: We analyzed baseline data collected from 2016-2018. Pubertal development was self-reported by girls using the Pubertal Development Scale, with early puberty defined as mid-late/post-pubertal development by age 9-11 years. Girls’ racial and ethnic identities, summed parent and grandparent mental health and substance use problems, past-year economic deprivation, as well as the child’s lifetime trauma exposure and depression symptoms, history of premature birth, and body mass index (BMI) were recorded from parent surveys. The contributions of multigenerational (Black/Indigenous [BIPOC] or Hispanic identity), intergenerational (family/grandparent) mental health, economic deprivation, personal trauma and depression, and proximal biological (history of premature birth and BMI) factors toward early puberty were examined using blocked modeling.

Results: 1,225 of 5,645 girls (age 9.9 ± 0.62) were categorized with early puberty (21.7%). Girls with early puberty, compared to those without, more often reported BIPOC (29.6% vs. 13.7%) and Hispanic (22.6 vs. 19.7) identities, had higher intergenerational familial adversities (1.98 vs. 1.79), higher rates of economic deprivation (38.8% vs. 19.2%), lifetime trauma exposure (42% vs. 35.8%) and depression symptoms (22.1% vs. 16.4%). Results of blocked modeling (see Table) showed that BIPOC and Hispanic identities increased the likelihood of early puberty, as did familial adversity, economic deprivation, lifetime trauma exposure, and depression symptoms. In the final model, there was a small effect of the child’s BMI but not their history of premature birth. The effect of multigenerational adversity remained significant across models, though the association between BIPOC and Hispanic identities with early puberty decreased progressively as more proximal adversities were added to the model. These findings support the synergistic effect of layered adversity on early puberty.

Conclusion: Consistent with LHT, we demonstrated that distal multi-generational and proximal personal adversities were synergistically associated with early puberty among ABCD female participants Findings add credence to the notion that, in addition to birthweight and life expectancy, monitoring pubertal timing may provide an indication of population health. Addressing early puberty may require policy and social changes to mitigate the impact of layered adversities including racial/ethnic disadvantage, family and individual mental health and trauma, and economic deprivation.