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Pubertal Stage and Depression: A Test of Within-Person Effects and Psychosocial Mediators
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Thesis/Dissertation
Date
2022
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Psychology
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DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/6929
Abstract
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 crosssectional
analyses. The current study utilized multilevel parallel process growth models to test
sex and racial differences in the association between within-person change in pubertal stage and
within-person change in depressive symptoms across adolescence, controlling for age. Models
were 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 African
American/Black). It also tested body esteem, stressful life events, and peer victimization as
mediators of this relation. Results suggested that depression increased with adrenal stage among
boys, but depression was unrelated to pubertal stage among girls. Further, there was no evidence
of 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 advanced
development among participants may explain these findings.
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