Race and Perceived Pubertal Transition Effects on Girls' Depressive ...

J Youth Adolescence (2013) 42:1155–1168 DOI 10.1007/s10964-012-9885-1

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

Race and Perceived Pubertal Transition Effects on Girls’ Depressive Symptoms and Delinquent Behaviors Rona Carter • Wendy K. Silverman James Jaccard

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Received: 7 September 2012 / Accepted: 30 November 2012 / Published online: 30 December 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012

Abstract Most past research on the effects of early pubertal timing on girls’ depressive symptoms and delinquent behavior has focused on either age of menarche or has combined multiple indicators of development into a single index of puberty. Past research has rarely examined both the onset of puberty such as age of menarche, as well more psychologically mediated impressions of puberty (i.e., perceived pubertal timing) within the same study. This study extends past research on racial differences and pubertal related effects on girls’ depressive symptoms and delinquent behavior by examining the independent influence of different indicators of puberty (age of menarche, development of breasts, and perceived pubertal timing). Two waves of data (100 % females) were used from African Americans (N = 481) and European Americans (N = 1259) who were enrolled in seventh- and eighthgrade during the first wave of data collection in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Early age of menarche was associated with high levels of depressive symptoms at Wave 1. Additionally, both early and late perceived pubertal timing were associated with high levels of depressive symptoms and high delinquent R. Carter (&) Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA e-mail: [email protected] W. K. Silverman Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA e-mail: [email protected] J. Jaccard Silver School of Social Work, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA e-mail: [email protected]

behaviors at Wave 1. The structural relationships among these variables were similar for African Americans and European Americans. Age of menarche and perceived pubertal timing influenced depressive symptoms and delinquent behavior at Wave 2 through depressive symptoms and delinquent behavior reported at Wave 1. The implications of these findings are discussed with an emphasis on how the specific indicator used to assess puberty is important in efforts to understand pubertal timing effects. Keywords Depressive symptoms Pubertal timing Delinquent behaviors Race differences Adolescent girls Perceived puberty

Introduction Research shows that girls who experience puberty early display more problem behaviors and signs of emotional distress than their same age peers who experience puberty either on-time or late (e.g., Carter et al. 2009, 2011; Ge et al. 2006; Haynie 2003; Michael and Eccles 2003; Natsuaki et al. 2009). It has been suggested that early pubertal development does not allow girls sufficient time to complete prior developmental tasks before the onset of puberty, as well as affording girls less time to acquire the skills needed to cope with new developmental stressors (e.g., moving into older mixed-sex peer groups) (Peskin and Livson 1972). Thus, early developing girls lack the time to adapt gradually (intellectually and emotionally) to pubertal changes and their social consequences (e.g., the reactions of others to their more mature body). African American girls may be the least developmentally ready group for the events of puberty given the physical

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changes associated with puberty tends to occur earlier in African American girls than other groups (Herman-Giddings et al. 1997; Wu et al. 2002). African American girls begin puberty about 1–1.5 years earlier than European American girls and begin menses about 8.5 months earlier (HermanGiddings et al. 1997). Thus, the normative changes of puberty and individual differences in pubertal timing may enhance susceptibility to behavioral and emotional problems (Craske 2003). However, research on racial differences in the relationship between pubertal timing and girls’ behavioral and emotional problems has yielded inconsistent findings (Cavanagh 2004; DeRose et al. 2011; Hayward et al. 1999; Michael and Eccles 2003; Striegel-Moore et al. 2001). These inconsistent findings may be due to a number of factors including population sampling, the pubertal event used to assess pubertal timing, and the statistical methods. Some studies on racial differences and pubertal related effects, for example, found early pubertal timing was associated with elevated levels of behavioral and emotional problems in both African American and European American girls using age of menarche (e.g., Striegel-Moore et al. 2001) and perceived pubertal development (Michael and Eccles 2003) as an index of pubertal timing. Striegel-Moore et al. (2001) found that similar associations existed between early age of menarche and poor body image and dieting in both African American and European American girls. Michael and Eccles (2003) found both African American and European American girls who perceived their pubertal timing either early or late relative to their peers reported significantly more psychosocial adjustment problems (i.e., depressive symptoms, eating disturbance, anger, problem behaviors, and total internalizing and externalizing behavior problems) than girls who perceived their pubertal timing as on-time. Other studies provide contradictory findings regarding racial differences and pubertal related effects using menarcheal status (DeRose et al. 2011; Hayward et al. 1999) and age of menarche (Cavanagh 2004; Michael and Eccles 2003) as an index of pubertal timing. Hayward et al. (1999) and DeRose et al. (2011) found associations between early pubertal timing and psychosocial adjustment problems for European American but not African American girls when early pubertal timing was assessed using menarcheal status. Recall that, in Michael and Eccles (2003), both African American and European American girls who perceived their pubertal timing either early or late relative to their peers reported significantly more psychosocial adjustment problems than girls who perceived their pubertal timing as on-time. However, when pubertal timing was assessed using age of menarche, early age of menarche was significantly related to psychosocial adjustment problems in European American but not African American girls (Michael and Eccles 2003).

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J Youth Adolescence (2013) 42:1155–1168

These inconsistent findings highlight the importance of considering the pubertal indicator used to assess pubertal timing and girls’ racial group membership when interpreting timing effects on emotional and behavioral problems. Thus, the main purpose of the present study was to examine the independent influence of three indicators of girls’ pubertal development: development of breasts, age of menarche, and perceived pubertal development on behavioral and emotional problems in a national representative sample of European American and African American girls. Examining the independent influence of different indicators of pubertal development may further serve to shed light on potential underlying mechanisms linking puberty to behavioral and emotional problems in African American and European American girls. Different Indicators of Pubertal Development: Distinct Ramifications Most research on pubertal development and girls’ behavioral and emotional problems has focused on either age of menarche or menarcheal status (see Hayward 2003; Negriff and Susman 2003). Other studies have combined multiple indicators of development, such as age of menarche, development of breasts, change in height, and change in skin, into a single index of pubertal development. The present study proposes that different indicators of pubertal development may have distinct ramifications on girls’ behavioral and emotional problems. Development of breasts is distinct from menarche, for example, because the former is a visible event likely to draw public reactions. Menarche, in contrast, is a private event and may not be a factor in girls’ social interactions. In a sample of African American girls ages 11–17 years (N = 102), Carter et al. (2009) found significant effects of pubertal timing on girls’ psychosocial adjustment (i.e., delinquent behavior and internalizing problems) using the development of breasts as an independent indicator, not age of menarche. Girls who perceived their breasts developing early relative to their peers were more likely to engage in delinquent behaviors according to teacher ratings. Significant effects of teacher rated adolescent internalizing problems also were found for girls who reported either early or late development of breasts. Distinct from the development of breasts and age at menarche is a girl’s perception of her pubertal timing relative to her same age and same sex peer group. Research has demonstrated that both early and late perceived pubertal timing are linked to girls’ emotional and behavioral problems (e.g., Carter et al. 2009; Carter et al. 2011; Ge et al. 2001; Michael and Eccles 2003; Natsuaki et al. 2009). Natsuaki et al. (2009), for example, demonstrated that early and late maturing girls were at risk of developing


significantly higher depressed mood than their on-time maturing peers when pubertal timing was assessed by combining multiple indicators of development into a single indicator of pubertal development. The racial/ethnic background of the study sample was not reported in Natsuaki et al. (2009), however, rendering the role of girls’ racial group membership on these puberty related effects unclear. Perceived pubertal development may be particularly important in clarifying racial differences on associations between pubertal timing and girls’ behavioral and emotional problems due to ethnic variations in standards of physical attractiveness. African American girls tend to describe their body ideal in terms of personality characteristics (e.g., style, attitude, pride, confidence); European American girls tend to describe their body ideal in terms of fixed physical attributes (e.g., tall, thin, high cheekbones; Parker et al. 1995). Girls who adopt body ideals in terms of personality characteristics are hypothesized to be less vulnerable to the distress generated by the physical and hormonal changes associated with puberty (Polivy and Herman 2003; Thompson and Stice 2001). The differentiated body ideal within African American and European American culture may influence girls’ responses to their developing bodies. For European American girls, puberty constitutes changes toward societal valued body ideal, but also away from the ‘‘slim-ideal’’ that defines contemporary white feminine standards of beauty. In contrast, African Americans have more flexible ideas about beauty and they prefer larger female body size and more marked secondary sex characteristics (e.g., Parker et al. 1995). These findings suggest that African American girls may be less distressed and more welcoming of the physical changes and weight gain associated with puberty than European American girls. Using perceived pubertal development as an indicator of pubertal timing, therefore, may reflect a different process than direct inquiry regarding the onset of puberty, possibly at the social rather than biological level. Considering Both Early and Late Pubertal Timing Effects To further elucidate racial differences and pubertal related effects, we examined whether both early and late pubertal timing predicted girls’ behavioral and emotional problems. Although past research findings shown that girls have difficulty in accommodating to early pubertal changes, several studies have found that both early and late pubertal timing are associated with behavioral and emotional problems, particularly delinquency and depression (e.g., Carter et al. 2009; Graber et al. 1997; Michael and Eccles 2003; Natsuaki et al. 2009). It has been suggested that girls have difficulty accommodating to both early and late

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pubertal changes due, in part, to a perceived lack of shared experience with others (Petersen and Taylor 1980). It stands to reason, therefore, that if the immediate peer groups for girls are predominately other girls with similar sociocultural standards of beauty, early developing girls may feel sad that they are experiencing pubertal changes in temporal isolation from their peers, whereas late developing girls may be rejected by their peers. Peer rejection may lead to norm violating behaviors such as delinquency at an earlier age (Peskin and Livson 1972). Thus, delinquency may be a consequence of late developing girls’ attempts to adjust to the differences between their biological and social maturity, depression may stem from early developing girls’ inabilities to cope with the social pressures and expectations that accompany physical maturity. Although alternative explanations are possible, examining both early and late pubertal timing effects on girls’ delinquent behavior and depressive symptoms may help clarify the inconsistent findings among studies that examine racial differences and pubertal related effects.

The Present Study To contribute to the existing literature on racial differences and pubertal related effects, the present study examined the independent influence of three indicators of girls’ pubertal development: development of breasts, age of menarche, and perceived pubertal development on depressive symptoms and delinquent behavior in a national representative sample of European American and African American girls. Data collected across two waves were used to examine pubertal effects on girls’ delinquency and depression. The data were drawn from African American and European American girls who were enrolled in the seventh and eighth grades during the first wave of data collection in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health; Bearman et al. 1997; Udry 1997). The present study further contributes to the existing literature by examining girls’ racial group membership as a moderator of pubertal timing effects by analyzing both linear and nonlinear effects of pubertal timing using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. SEM was selected over traditional multivariate methods (e.g., regression) to take into account measurement reliability when estimating the links among variables in the analysis. The hypothesized dynamics are captured in the path diagram in Fig. 1. We first examined the predictive association between depressive symptoms (path g) and delinquent behaviors (path h) over time, each controlling for effects at earlier time points. We expected depressive symptoms (path g) and delinquent behaviors (path h) to increase significantly from Wave 1 to Wave 2. Girls who reported high levels of

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Fig. 1 Theoretical model

Wave 1 Age of Menarche

a

Wave 2

g

Depressive Symptoms

b

Depressive Symptoms

i

c Development of Breasts

d

e

j

f

Delinquent Behaviors

h

Delinquent Behaviors

Perceived Pubertal Timing

depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors in Wave 1were expected to report high levels of depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors in Wave 2. Next, given the longitudinal nature of the data we included cross-lagged paths in the model between depressive symptoms (path j) and delinquent behaviors (path i). Based on the research findings summarized above, age of menarche, development of breasts, and perceived pubertal timing were assumed to influence depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors at both Wave 1 and Wave 2 (paths a–f). Figure 1 represents the most general formulation that includes indirect pubertal effects on outcomes. However, both direct and indirect effects of these pubertal variables on outcomes at Wave 2 were examined. Lastly, based on findings from Michael and Eccles (2003), the development of breasts and perceived pubertal timing were hypothesized to show stronger predictive effects on depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors in African American girls than European American girls. Age of menarche was expected to show stronger predictive effects on depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors in European American girls than African American girls.

Method Participants The analyses used the Add Health database collected by Bearman et al. (1997). The Add Health data base is a school based sample of 20,745 adolescents in Grades 7 through 12 who reside in the United States. The sampling frame selected a stratified random sample of 80 high schools in the United States. For each school, a set of ‘‘feeder’’ schools was identified that sent their graduates to the high school and that also included 7th graders. This resulted in a pair of schools in each of 80 communities. Because some high schools spanned Grades 7–12, they

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functioned as their own feeder school, and the ‘‘pair’’ was a single school. There were 134 discrete schools in the study. An initial in-school self-administered questionnaire was given to students in Grades 7–12 in all schools during a class period. This questionnaire was completed by more than 90,000 adolescents. All students who completed the in-school questionnaire, as well as those who were listed on the school roster, were used as a sampling frame to specify a random sample of 12,105 adolescents, stratified by gender and grade. These girls were later interviewed in their homes. Approximately 200 adolescents were selected from each of the 80 pairs of schools. Because Add Health was designed to elucidate adolescent social networks, there were 16 schools from which all enrolled students were selected for the in-home interviews. These were two large schools (with a total combined enrollment of over 3,300) and 14 small schools (with enrollment of fewer than 300). This sample is referred to as the saturation sample and it is the data from this saturation sample used in the present analyses. Data were collected at two points in time separated by an approximately 1-year time interval; hereafter called Wave 1 and Wave 2. Attrition was relatively low. Of those whom the research team intended to re-interview, about 80 % were re-interviewed. There was no evidence for attrition bias when examined using a range of demographics measured at Wave 1. The present study focused on African American and European American girls who were in the saturated sample, enrolled in grades 7 and 8 at Wave 1, and 12 to 15-yearsold. There were 2,314 girls who met the above criteria. We further limited our sample to girls who received Wave 2 sampling weights. Our final sample therefore consisted of 1,259 European American girls and 481 African American girls ages 12–15 years old (M = 13.44 years; SD = 0.76). Fifty-one percent of the sample was enrolled in seventh grade. Sixty-four percent of the adult respondents for the households in which the adolescents lived at Wave 1 were married, 13 % were divorced, 7 % were single, 5 % were


separated, 3 % were widowed, and 8 % did not indicate their marital status. Thirty percent of the adult respondents for the households in which the adolescents lived at Wave 1 received their high school diploma, 18 % attended college but did not receive a degree, 14 % graduated from a college or university, 10 % did not graduate from high school, 10 % went to a business, trade, or vocational school instead of high school, 9 % received professional training beyond a 4-year college or university, and 10 % never went to school. To assess sampling bias, we compared girls in our sample with all girls in the defined population of interest (i.e., all White and Black girls ages 12–15 years enrolled in grades 7 and 8 at Wave 1 with Wave 2 sampling weights) on all variables to be used as main effects, dependent variables, or control variables in SEM models. Differences in means and standard errors were extremely small (i.e., less than .01) and the 95 % confidence intervals showed extensive overlap. Thus, there was no evidence for sampling bias. Measures Pubertal Development Adolescents were asked to describe the extent of their physical maturity by responding to four questions: to what degree their breasts had developed, how curved their body had become, overall how advanced their physical development was compared to other girls their age, and whether their menstrual cycle began. These questions have been used in past studies (Morris and Udry 1980; Udry et al. 1986) and have been found to be significantly correlated with more detailed measures based on direct physical observations. The actual questions used are available in codebooks on the Add Health website http://www.cpc.unc. edu/projects/addhealth.

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hundred ninety-three girls were coded as 0 (No menarche; 89 African Americans); five were coded as 1 (menarche age 15; 5 European Americans); thirty-one as 2 (menarche age 14; 8 African Americans); 280 as 3 (menarche age 13; 58 African Americans); 507 as 4 (menarche age 12; 136 African Americans); 350 as 5 (menarche age 11; 118 African Americans); 112 as 6 (menarche age 10; 42 African American); 55 as 7 (menarche age 9; 27 African Americans); 5 as 8 (menarche age 8; 2 African Americans); and 2 as 9 (menarche age 7; 1 African American). To obtain an index of pubertal timing, we standardized the recoded age of menarche within each age (12, 13, 14, and 15 years old) and race category. This procedure, as proposed by Susman et al. (1991), is analogous to that used by Ge et al. (2006) to assess pubertal timing. It generated a variable of pubertal timing, with a mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1 for both African American and European American girls, with higher scores indicating earlier maturation. Development of Breasts Development of breasts was measured using Question 1 of the above mentioned pubertal development questions. Adolescents responded to this question on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (‘‘My breasts are about the same size as when I was in grade school’’) to 5 (‘‘My breasts are a whole lot bigger then when I was in grade school; they are as developed as a grown woman’s breasts’’). An index of pubertal timing also was obtained by standardizing adolescents’ responses to this question within each age (12, 13, 14, and 15 years old) and race category. It generated a variable of pubertal timing (breasts), with a mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1 for both African American and European American girls, with higher scores indicating earlier maturation.

Age of Menarche


Age of menarche was measured using Question 4 of the above mentioned pubertal development questions. Adolescents responded to this question either 1 (Yes) or 0 (No). Adolescents who responded ‘‘Yes’’ reported the age at which they had their first menstrual period. The girls’ selfreported age of menarche ranged from 7 to 15 years. Past research has found adolescent girls are accurate in reporting their menstrual age (e.g., Caspi and Moffitt 1991; Dubas et al. 1991). We recoded age of menarche so that higher scores indicated earlier age of menarche and lower scores indicated later age or not reached menarche at the time of assessment (0 = no menarche to 9 = 7 years). Three

Perceived pubertal timing was measured using Question 3 of the above mentioned pubertal development questions. Adolescents responded to this question on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (‘‘I look younger than most’’) to 5 (‘‘I look older than most’’). Higher scores indicated greater perception that one’s pubertal development was earlier relative to same sex and same age peers. Studies have demonstrated reasonable confidence in the reliability and validity of adolescents’ perceptions of their pubertal timing using a single item (e.g., Dubas et al. 1991; Graber et al. 1997). Graber et al. (1997) found acceptable test–retest reliability of girls’ perceived pubertal timing over one year (r = 0.61).

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Adolescent Depressive Symptoms Adolescent depressive symptoms were measured using a 19-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D; Radloff 1977). The CES-D is a widely used questionnaire to assess depression in adolescents (Radloff 1991). The CES-D used in Add Health eliminated two items from the original CES-D (‘‘I had crying spells’’; ‘‘My sleep was restless’’). Two items also were slightly different worded than in the original CES-D (‘‘I felt that everything I did was an effort’’; ‘‘I could not get going’’), in keeping with the development of the CES-D for children (Faulstich et al. 1986; Weissman et al. 1980). One item was added to the CES-D in Add Health (‘‘I felt that life was not worth living’’), which was first added to the CES-D as an important feature of adolescent depression (Garrison et al. 1991). Participants responded to each question on a 3-point scale, ranging from zero (never) to three (all the time) to yield a total score that can range from 0 to 57. Past research has reported satisfactory internal consistency coefficients (a = .85; Radloff 1991) as well as test–retest reliability (two month interval; r = .60; Roberts et al. 1990). In the present sample, the coefficient alphas at Wave 1 for European American and African American adolescent girls were 0.88 and 0.83, respectively; the coefficient alphas at Wave 2 were 0.89 and 0.86, respectively. Adolescent Delinquent Behaviors Adolescent delinquent behaviors were measured by asking adolescents about their engagement in 13 activities, ranging from running away from home to getting into a serious physical fight. Participants responded to each question on a 3-point scale, ranging from zero (never) to three (5 or more times). The 13 activities were summed to construct a scale of delinquency, which ranged from 0 (never on all thirteen items) to 39 (five or more times on all thirteen items). In the present sample, the coefficient alphas at Wave 1 for European American and African American adolescent girls were 0.81 and 0.78, respectively; the coefficient alphas at Wave 2 were 0.80 and 0.76, respectively. Control Variables Three variables were used as covariates in the study analyses: adolescents’ age, the primary caregivers’ marital status, and primary caregivers’ education level at Wave 1. Adolescents were asked their age in years at the time of the interview. The primary caregivers’ marital status and education level were assessed based on information provided by the adult respondent for the household in which the adolescent lived for the year prior to the assessment.

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Responses for education level ranged from 0 (never attended school) to 7 (professional beyond college). Responses for marital status ranged from 1 (single, never married) to 5 (separated). For analyses, marital status was coded 1 (married) and 0 (all else). Procedure The majority of the interviews were conducted in the respondents’ homes. All data were recorded on laptop computers. For less sensitive sections, the interviewer read the questions aloud and entered the respondents’ answers. For more sensitive sections, the respondents listened to prerecorded questions through earphones and entered the answers directly (through audio computer-assisted selfinterviewing). The topics covered in the interviews were diverse, including health status, health facility utilization, nutrition, peer networks, decision-making processes, family composition and dynamics, educational aspirations and expectations, employment experience, the ordering of events in the formation of romantic partnerships, substance use, and criminal activities. All the measures described above were obtained at both waves of the survey. Data Analysis Plan Add Health employed a stratified cluster sampling design in which schools were sampled from the Quality of Education Database. Student level sampling weights were calculated for both waves of the design and were developed by Add Health statisticians to take into account design effects (Tourangeau and Shin 1998). We conducted weighted analyses using Mplus 5.1 (Muthen and Muthen 1998–2007). The Huber (1967) and White (1982) sandwich estimator was used to calculate the complex design based estimates of variance and Full Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML) estimation was used to account for missing data. SEM with a single indicator path analytic approach was used to examine the hypothesized relationships captured in Fig. 1. Age of menarche was represented in the model using the recoded ages described earlier so as to include girls who had not reached menarche. The development of breasts and perceived pubertal timing were both represented in the model using the item scores. Single indicators were used for the CES-D and Delinquent Behaviors at Wave 1 and Wave 2 to represent the underlying constructs, with error terms for the observed variables set to 1 minus the reliability for that measure to avoid the untenable assumption that the observed variables are measured without error (Bollen and Long 1993). This involved constraining the error/unique variances for each measure to predetermined values corresponding to a priori determined


levels of reliability (Bollen and Long 1993). For the CES-D at Wave 1 and Wave 2, the reliability level was set at .84 and .84, respectively. For Delinquent Behaviors at Wave 1 and Wave 2, the reliability level was set at .83 and .83, respectively. The estimates for both the CED-S and Delinquent Behaviors were based on previous research using Add Health data (Joyner and Udry 2000). After presenting preliminary model diagnostics, we report simple descriptive and comparative analyses between African American girls and European American girls to examine whether the groups differed in terms of mean values on study variables. Next, SEM analyses are presented to investigate the relationships hypothesized in Fig. 1. The theoretical model in Fig. 1 was tested and included the following: (1) adolescents’ age in years, primary caregivers’ marital status [a categorical variable from 1 (married) to 0 (all else)], and maternal education level [an ordered categorical variable from 0 (never attended school) to 7 (professional beyond college)] were included in the model as covariates for all endogenous variables, (2) all exogenous variables were correlated, (3) correlated errors between depressive symptoms Wave 1 and delinquent behaviors at Wave 1 were permitted to reflect that their association is not simply a function of the exogenous variables in the model, and (4) direct effects of the pubertal variables on outcomes at Wave 2 were included. Lastly, to examine both linear and nonlinear effects of pubertal timing on depressive symptoms and delinquent behavior, polynomial regression methods were used that added both quadratic and cubic terms as potential predictors to all cases where a given pubertal variable was predicting an endogenous variable. Two quadratic terms were found to be statistically significant; hence, they were included in all SEM analysis. The final section of the Results presents invariance analyses to determine whether the predictive effects of development of breasts, age of menarche, and perceived pubertal timing on outcomes vary as a function of racial group membership. Specifically, a multigroup SEM was used to examine the moderating effect of racial group membership on links between pubertal timing and girls’ depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors, with African American girls and European American girls representing two groups.

Results Preliminary Analyses Prior to formal modeling, the data for the continuous variables were evaluated for multivariate outliers by examining leverage indices for each individual and

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defining an outlier as a leverage score four times greater than the sample mean leverage. Model based outlier analyses also were performed using a limited information approach in which the endogenous variables were regressed on to relevant predictors and then standardized dfbetas were examined for each individual. An outlier was defined as any individual with an absolute standardized dfbeta greater than 1 for a given coefficient. No outlier was present based on these analyses. Examination of univariate indices of skewness and kurtosis revealed two skewness values greater than 2.0 (2.80 and 2.69 for measures of delinquent behaviors at Wave 1 and Wave 2) and two values of kurtosis greater than 2.0 (11.49 and 10.10 for the measures of delinquent behaviors at Wave 1 and Wave 2). The Huber (1967) and White (1982) sandwich estimator corrects for biases due the non-normality of delinquent behaviors at Wave 1 and Wave 2. There were small amounts of missing data, occurring sporadically, and never exceeding more than 9 % of the cases for any given variable. There was no coherent pattern to the missing data, thus, FIML missing data estimation was used for missing responses. Descriptive and Comparative Analyses Contingency table and analysis of variance were performed using the sample weights to examine differences between African American girls and European American girls on demographic information provided by the adolescent and adult respondents for the household in which the adolescent lived at Wave 1. The proportions of the adult respondents residing with the African American and European American girls differed significantly across all marital status (Pearson X2 = 4803, p \ 0.05, Cramer’s V = .42) and parent education (Pearson X2 = 8186, p \ 0.05, Cramer’s V = .17) categories. Significantly more of the adult respondents residing with the African American girls received their high school diploma (40 %) compared to the adult respondents’ residing with the European American girls (35 %). Significantly more of the adult respondents residing with the European American girls graduated from a college or university (15 %) compared to the adult respondents residing with the African American girls (6 %). Significantly more of the adult respondents residing with the African American girls were single (24 %) compared to the adult respondents’ residing with the European American girls (3 %). Significantly more of the adult respondents residing with the European American girls were married (80 %) compared to the adult respondents residing with the African American girls (41 %). Table 1 presents partial correlations between study variables. In general, these correlations justify treating the

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Table 1 Partial correlations between study variables by girls’ racial group membership Dep. symptoms W1 Dep. symptoms, W1

Dep. symptoms W2

–

Delinq. behaviors W1

.55

Delinq. behaviors W2

.34

–

.26

.31

Age Menarche W1 -.17

Develop Breasts W1 .07

Perceived Puberty W1 .06

Dep. symptoms, W2

.58*

Delinq behaviors, W1

.16*

Delinq behaviors, W2

.10*

.10

.64

–

-.01

.06

.06

Age menarche, W1

.07*

-.02

-.05

-.02

–

-.22

-.34

Develop breasts, W1

-.09*

-.03

.16

.02

-.14

–

Perceived puberty, W1

-.18*

-.14

.04

-.08

-.37

.15

–

.36

-.08

.07

.07

.60

-.06

.06

.14

.38

.39 –

Data have been weighted to be nationally representative. All correlations are significant (p \ 0.05) and control for the chronological age of the participants at Wave 1. Correlations for African American girls are below the dash line and correlations for European American girls are above the dash line Dep depression, Delinq delinquent, W1 Wave 1, W2 Wave 2 Table 2 Means and standard errors for study variables by girls’ racial group membership

Variable

African Americans M (SE)

European Americans M (SE)

F

Age, Wave 1

13.53 (0.80)

13.41 (0.73)

1274*

Age of menarche, Wave 1

11.42 (0.01)

11.81 (0.01)

3945*

3.31 (0.01)

3.37 (0.01)

1438*

Perceived pubertal timing, Wave 1 Data have been weighted to be nationally representative. SE have been adjusted for sampling stratification, clustering and weighting of the data. * p \ 0.05

Development of breasts, Wave 1

3.03 (0.01)

3.10 (0.01)

1941*

Depressive symptoms, Wave 1

12.16 (0.01)

10.17 (0.01)

3007*

Depressive symptoms, Wave 2

12.49 (0.01)

10.58 (0.01)

2591*

Delinquent behaviors, Wave 1

2.94 (0.01)

2.62 (0.01)

3315*

Delinquent behaviors, Wave 2

2.64 (0.01)

2.77 (0.01)

519*

different indicators of pubertal development as separate predictors of the study outcomes. Mean differences between African American and European American girls on all study variables are presented in Table 2. African American girls were significantly older than European American girls, M = 13.53 (SE = .001) and 13.41 years (SE = .001), respectively. African American girls reported a significantly younger age of menarche (M = 11 years; SE = .002) than European American girls (M = 12 years; SE = .001). African American girls and European American girls also differed significantly on perceived overall pubertal timing and development of breasts. African American girls reported significantly more depressive symptoms than European American girls at Wave 1 and Wave 2. Examination of the means over time revealed that both African American and European American girls’ depressed mood increased gradually between assessment points. Depressive symptoms at Wave 2 were significantly higher than depressive symptoms at Wave 1 for both European American girls (t = -89.19, p \ 0.05; M difference = -0.40) and African American girls (t = -32.63, p \ 0.05; M difference = -0.33). African American girls reported significantly more delinquent behaviors than European American girls at Wave

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1 and European American girls reported significantly more delinquent behaviors than African American girls at Wave 2. Girls’ delinquent behaviors increased gradually between Wave 1 and Wave 2 among European Americans, but decreased among African Americans. Delinquent behaviors at Wave 2 were significantly higher than delinquent behaviors at Wave 1 for European American girls (t = -66.39, p \ 0.05; M difference = -0.14). Delinquent behaviors at Wave 2 were significantly lower than delinquent behaviors at Wave 1 for African Americans girls (t = 60.67, p \ 0.05; M difference = 0.31). SEM Analyses To investigate the relationships hypothesized in Fig. 1 SEM analyses was pursued. The model was just identified. We expected depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors to increase significantly from Wave 1 to Wave 2. As shown in Fig. 2, prior depressive symptoms (B = 0.53, 95 % CI = 0.46–0.59, p \ .05) and delinquent behaviors (B = 0.24, 95 % CI = 0.09–0.40, p \ .05) assessed at Wave 1 significantly predicted subsequent depressive symptoms 1 year later. Specifically, girls who reported high levels of depressive symptoms Wave 1 reported high


0.10

0.78 (0.10)*

Age of Menarche

Depressive Symptoms Wave 1

1 0.2 .03) (0

Depressive Symptoms Wave 2

0 (0 .24 .1 2) *

0.53 (0.51)*

0 (0 .67 .6 3) *

-1 (-0 .09 .32 )*

03 6) 0. 0.0 (


0.36

21 6) 0. 0.0 (

(-0 4,5 .6 4 5) *

Development of Breasts

09 2) 0. 0.0 (

Fig. 2 Selected path coefficients for the analyses of pubertal effects on depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors overtime for the total sample. Note: Unstandardized path coefficients are in parentheses; Data have been weighted to be nationally representative. Path coefficients have been adjusted for sampling stratification, clustering and weighting of the data. Exogenous variables are correlated and endogenous error variances are correlated although curved arrows are not shown. Adolescents’ age, racial group membership, parent education, and parent marital status are included as covariates although not shown; *p \ .05

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Squared Perceived Pubertal Timing

0.23 (0.44)*

Delinquent Behaviors Wave 1

0.04

levels of depressive symptoms in Wave 2. More importantly, engagement in delinquent behavior appears to influence girls’ propensity toward depressive symptomatology. However, prior depressive symptoms assessed at Wave 1 did not significantly predict engagement in delinquent behavior at Wave 2. Instead, prior delinquent behaviors (B = 0.58, 95 % CI = 0.47–0.69, p \ .05) assessed at Wave 1 significantly predicted high involvement in delinquent activities 1 year later. Thus, girls who reported high levels of delinquent behaviors in Wave 1 reported high involvement in delinquent activities 1 year later. Age of menarche, development of breasts, and perceived pubertal timing were assumed to influence depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors at both Wave 1 and Wave 2. As shown in Fig. 2, age of menarche significantly predicted depressive symptoms (B = 0.78; 95 % CI = 0.43–1.13; p \ 0.05) at Wave 1. Girls who reported an early age of menarche reported more depressive symptoms at Wave 1 than girls who reported on time or late age of menarche. Perceived overall development significantly predicted depressive symptoms (B = -4.54; 95 % CI = -7.39 to -1.70; p \ 0.05) and delinquent behaviors (B = -1.09; 95 % CI = -1.99 to -0.19; p \ 0.05) at Wave 1. Girls who perceived late overall development reported high levels of depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors at Wave 1. Interestingly, two nonlinear effects (quadratic) involving the outcome depressive symptoms (B = 0.67; 95 %

0.58 (0.57)*

Delinquent Behaviors Wave 2

0.34

CI = 0.25–1.09; p \ 0.05) and delinquent behaviors (B = 0.23; 95 % CI = 0.08–0.38; p \ 0.05) at Wave 1 were observed for perceived overall development. Using decompositioning methods discussed in Jaccard et al. (1990), results revealed that early pubertal timing (i.e., perceived overall development) was associated with high levels of depressive symptoms. Perceived on-time overall development had more minimal impact on depressive symptoms, but as girls’ moved to perceiving that their overall development was later than their peers, depressive symptoms increased significantly. Early perceived overall development was also associated with high involvement of delinquent activities (i.e., 5 or more delinquent behaviors). Perceived on-time development had more minimal impact on delinquent behaviors, but as girls’ moved to perceiving their development was later than their peers, delinquent behaviors showed a definite upward trend. SEM Multigroup Analyses A multigroup SEM was used to examine the moderating effect of racial group membership on links between pubertal timing and girls’ depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors, with African American girls and European American girls representing two groups. First, a baseline model was specified for African American and European American girls separately to ensure that the theoretical model in Fig. 1 fit was reasonable within each

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sub-group. The same SEM model that was tested in the SEM analysis for the total sample was tested in the SEM baseline models with one exception: Girls’ racial group membership was removed as a covariate for all endogenous variables. The models were statistically just identified. More focused tests of fit revealed no theoretically meaningful or sizable modification indices, nor were any of the absolute standardized residuals testing the difference between predicted and observed covariances in each cell of the covariance matrix larger than 1.96. Next, the data of the African American and European American girls were analyzed simultaneously using a SEM multigroup strategy to determine whether the parameters between each maturation variable and each dependent variable (depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors) were different between the two groups of girls. The same SEM model that was tested in the SEM baseline models were tested in the multigroup SEM. This model was tested first with no equality constraints across groups (unconstrained model). The model was statistically just identified. This model was then tested against a constrained model that introduced equality constraints as a function of adolescents’ racial group membership. All regression paths were constrained in this model to be equal across groups except for the paths from the covariates to the endogenous variables. The error variances were not constrained to be equal across groups (Byrne 2001). The overall fit of the constrained model was good [X2 (20) = 20.033, p = 0.46; CFI = 1.00, SRMR = 0.03; RMESA = 0.001 CI 0.001–0.033]. The difference in fit between the model in which all the parameters were freely estimated (unconstrained model) and the one in which the regression paths were restricted (constrained model) shows whether the theoretical model in Fig. 1 is moderated by girls’ racial group membership. The comparative fit of the unconstrained model to the constrained model was performed using a scaled difference X2 test (Satorra and Bentler 1999). In no case was there a statistically significant Chi square difference test (X2 diff (20) = 20.025, p [ 0.05; RMESA = 0 .001 CI 0.001–0.029) when the constrained model was compared to the unconstrained model. This result leads to a conclusion that the structural relationships between development of breasts, age of menarche, perceived pubertal timing, depressive symptoms, and delinquent behaviors are similar for African American and European American girls.

Discussion This study’s findings highlight the importance of considering different indicators of pubertal development when interpreting timing effects on girls’ depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors. Most past research on pubertal

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development and girls’ depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors has focused on either age of menarche or has combined multiple indicators of development into a single index of pubertal development. Research rarely has examined both the onset of puberty such as age of menarche, as well more psychologically mediated impressions of puberty (i.e., perceived pubertal timing) within the same study. Both early and late pubertal timing appear to present a significant risk to both African American and European American girls’ depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors when using age of menarche and perceived pubertal timing as an index of pubertal timing. Specifically, the study’s findings demonstrated that both African American and European American girls who reported an early age of menarche reported high levels of depressive symptoms at Wave 1, when the girls were enrolled in seventh and eighth grade. This finding is consistent with past research (e.g., Ge et al. 1996, 2001; Michael and Eccles 2003). Adolescent girls in the midst of pubertal changes likely manifest high levels of distress because this transition is considered to be inherently stressful (Caspi and Moffitt 1991). It is also possible that adolescent girls who experience an early pubertal transition encounter difficulties because they confront simultaneous biological and social challenges in multiple domains (Petersen et al. 1991). Experiencing pubertal changes at the same time as the transition from elementary school to middle school, for example, has been shown to have adverse effects on early developing adolescents (e.g., Ge et al. 1995; Petersen et al. 1991). A similar effect is also likely for African American and European American girls in the present study. Both African American and European American girls who perceived their overall development was early relative to their peers reported high levels of depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors at Wave 1, when the girls were enrolled in seventh and eighth grade. Perceived pubertal timing appears to change the social context of adolescent girls. Adolescent girls who perceived their overall development as early relative to their peers may feel upset they are experiencing pubertal changes in temporal isolation from their peers and thus have more difficulty coping (Caspi and Moffitt 1991). This finding is also consistent with past research (e.g., Ge et al. 1996, 2001). It is also possible that adolescent girls who perceived their overall development as early relative to their peers are establishing new relationships with older peers who are engaging in delinquent activities (Beaver and Wright 2005; Felson and Haynie 2002). It has been purported that the cognitive development of adolescents who are drawn into relationships with older peers may not be as advanced as their physical appearance and thus this mismatch provides the impetus for adjustment


difficulties (Peskin and Livson 1972). Further, early developing girls may be rejected by their peers. This may be particularly relevant if the immediate peer groups for girls in this sample are other girls with similar sociocultural standards of beauty (Polivy and Herman 2003; Thompson and Stice 2001). Previous research has demonstrated that rejected youth tend to cluster together with other rejected youth and form networks of deviant peers—a consistent predictor of delinquency (Wangby et al. 1999). The findings also demonstrated that both early and late perceived development significantly predicted high levels of depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors at Wave 1, when both African American and European American girls were enrolled in seventh and eighth grade. Thus, late pubertal timing was found to be similarly problematic as early pubertal timing when puberty is assessed using girls’ perceptions of their timing relative to the peer group. This finding is consistent with past research (e.g., Carter et al. 2009; Michael and Eccles 2003; Striegel-Moore et al. 2001). Research is sparse on the effects of late pubertal timing on girls’ psychosocial adjustment relative to research on the effects of early pubertal timing on girls’ psychosocial adjustment. Developing either earlier or later than their same age and same sex peers appears to expose developing African American and European American girls to a wide range of social environmental stressors that may be overtaxing for their relatively undeveloped coping resources. More research is needed to better understand the specific mechanisms linking perceived overall pubertal development to girls’ depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors using a similarly diverse sample. The development of breasts did not significantly predict girls’ depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors. This finding is inconsistent with past research (e.g., Carter et al. 2009). This inconsistency may be related to the different measure used for breasts development. Add Health asked participants to compare their breasts size to when they were in grade school; Carter et al. used the Tanner stages (Tanner 1972). Tanner staging is based on normative developmental progress, whereas the Add health question asked about breast development relative to the girl’s own development. The Add Health breasts development question also may be confounded with weight, as higher BMI is associated with more adipose tissue in the breast and can be confused with advanced breast development. More research is needed to better understand how important or salient developing breasts are to both African American European American girls and whether variations in the timing of the development of breasts translates into a risk (or not) for behavioral and emotional problems. Racial group membership did not significantly moderate the predictive effects of age of menarche, development of breasts, and perceived pubertal timing on girls’ depressive

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symptoms and delinquent behaviors. The structural relationships between the development of breasts, age of menarche, perceived pubertal timing, depressive symptoms, and delinquent behaviors in the present study appear to be similar for African American and European American girls. This finding was unexpected given that African American girls appear to be the least developmentally ready for the events of puberty because pubertal changes tend to occur earlier in African American girls compared to other girls (Herman-Giddings et al. 1997; Wu et al. 2002). Early age of menarche was associated with high levels of depressive symptoms in both of these racial groups above and above perceived pubertal timing. Moreover, the sense of being socially deviant (either perceived early or late), suggests some internal sense of developmental readiness over and above the effects of age of menarche (a pubertal indicator that is somewhat independent of race/ethnic context). Continuing to develop an understanding of the influences of perceived timing is needed, as both African American and European American girls who perceive their pubertal development as early and late relative to peers report adjustment difficulties. Researchers may want to expand the list of theoretical mediators and moderators and, more importantly, isolate and directly measure the underlying theoretical mechanisms. To better isolate identification mechanisms, for example, it might be informative to incorporate measures of changes in the selfconcept. Researchers also might consider mechanisms that follow from theoretical frameworks other than identification. For example, future research could adopt a social learning perspective (Bandura 1982) and test whether changes in knowledge and self-efficacy mediate observed pubertal-related effects. Or, research could adopt a situational perspective (Snyder 1983) and test whether high-risk same-race peers expose girls to higher risk environments, resulting in increased rates of depression and delinquency. Lastly, future research may want to consider levels of stress in the context of pubertal changes. There are several study limitations that should be noted. First, we utilized adolescent’s self reports as the sole method for capturing data. Data from parents and teachers would be helpful to use in future studies to examine sources’ convergence and divergence. In addition, some of the constructs were represented by a single item. The use of single items can introduce bias in parameter estimates due to measurement error. If a construct is not adequately represented by a measure, then that construct may not be controlled fully in the statistical analyses. The study also relied on self-reports to assess pubertal development. Although most studies in this area of research have used adolescent self-report data to assess girls’ pubertal timing, findings from Dorn et al. (2003) demonstrate that the

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effects of pubertal timing on adolescent psychosocial adjustment vary depending upon who rates the adolescents’ pubertal development (i.e., parent, adolescent, physician). Lastly, the time of reference in the pubertal timing questions used was different. Perceived pubertal timing (and perceived development of breasts) may refer to the present; whereas age of menarche may refer to the past or to an event that is not yet relevant. Using perceived pubertal timing may leave more room for interpretation on the part of the girls than direct inquiry regarding the onset of menarche. There is also potential for individual concerns to influence a girl’s assessment of their onset of menarche. Research has demonstrated that girls’ affective response to menarche is related to how prepared the girls felt for the event (Ruble and Brooks-Gunn 1982). Thus, a girl may report an early age of menarche not only because it reflects her status relative to other girls with the same chronological age, but because it reflects her lack of developmental readiness for menarche. The associations described in the present study are undoubtedly complex, with many factors contributing to the variance in the outcomes. Based on the results reported in the present study, it is clear that many important questions remain unanswered in the study racial differences and pubertal related effects in girls; consequently, there exist many new and intriguing avenues for future research. More research is needed to examine the ways in which the physical and hormonal changes associated with puberty are made meaningful to girls. Such research can inform preventive intervention efforts with possible social and cognitive avenues to preventing either early or late developing girls from developing emotional and behavioral problems during early and middle adolescence. Future studies also should include an even broader source assessment approach than that used in this study. Moreover, future research on racial differences and pubertal-related effects might consider assessing hormonal changes at puberty. There is some evidence that the emergence of depressive symptoms is associated with the rise of gonadal hormones in girls and that this association may be independent of the psychosocial effects of puberty (see Sanborn and Hayward 2003, for a review). Lastly, examining both direct inquiries regarding the onset of puberty and more psychologically mediated impressions of puberty within the same study remains an important avenue to pursue. This study’s findings highlight the importance of considering different indicators of pubertal development when interpreting timing effects on girls’ depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors. Acknowledgments This research used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by Grant P01-HD31921 from the NICHD, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Special acknowledgment

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J Youth Adolescence (2013) 42:1155–1168 is owed to Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. To obtain data files from Add Health, contact Add Health, Carolina Population Center, 123 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-2524 (www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth/contact.html). Author contributions R.C. conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, performed the statistical analysis; and drafted the manuscript; W.K.S helped to draft the manuscript and participated in its design and coordination; J.J. participated in its design, helped to perform the statistical analysis, and interpretation of the data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Author Biographies Rona Carter is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. Her research has focused on exploring how social-cultural contextual factors and wider social systems exacerbate or ameliorate the risks associated with pubertal timing in girls. Wendy K. Silverman is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Child and Family Psychosocial Research Center at Florida International University in Miami, FL. Her research has focused on designing and evaluating psychosocial interventions to help reduce the number of youth who suffer from anxiety disorders. James Jaccard is a Professor in the Silver School of Social Work at New York University in New York, NY. His research has focused on adolescent problem behaviors related to unintended pregnancy and substance use.