Links Between Girls' Puberty and Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors: Moving from Demonstrating Effects to Identifying Pathways

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511499883.006

5 - Links Between Girls' Puberty and Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors: Moving from Demonstrating Effects to Identifying Pathways

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 July 2009

Julia A. Graber ,

Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and

Andrea B. Archibald

Edited by

David M. Stoff and

Elizabeth J. Susman

Show author details

Julia A. Graber: Affiliation:
University of Florida
Jeanne Brooks-Gunn: Affiliation:
Teachers College and College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
Andrea B. Archibald: Affiliation:
Teachers College, Columbia University
David M. Stoff: Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Elizabeth J. Susman: Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Adolescence has fascinated developmental scholars because the transition into adolescence involves biological, psychological, and social changes (Graber & Brooks-Gunn, 1996). At the same time, adolescence has been a focus for research on psychopathology as rates of several disorders increase dramatically during this time period. Most notably, the past few decades have witnessed volumes of studies and theories on adolescent depression, conduct disorder, and subclinical psychopathology (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). Many of these studies have sought to understand the confluence of bio-psychosocial developmental factors that result in the emergence of serious behavioral and emotional problems. In this chapter, we consider several bio-psychosocial models that have been used to explain changes in internalizing and externalizing behaviors during adolescence. Examples from our own work highlight the role of pubertal development in understanding behavioral plasticity during adolescence.

Discussions of plasticity in developmental processes have frequently focused on early development and gene–environment interactions in understanding development and behavior (Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 1998). Despite a focus on the early periods of development, the notion that adaptation occurs in neural and behavioral development throughout life has been a cornerstone of life span developmental perspectives (Baltes et al., 1998; Cairns, 1998). Recent studies in neuroscience have demonstrated that new neural connections continue to be made across the life span (e.g., Bruer & Greenough, 2001) and specific changes in the prefrontal cortex and limbic regions of the brain occur during adolescence (see Spear, 2000 for a review).

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Developmental Psychobiology of Aggression , pp. 87 - 114

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499883.006 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Andersson, T., & Magnusson, D. (1990). Biological maturation in adolescence and the development of drinking habits and alcohol abuse among young males: A prospective longitudinal study. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 19, 33–41CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Angold, A., Costello, E. J., Erkanli, A., & Worthman, C. M. (1999). Pubertal changes in hormone levels and depression in girls. Psychological Medicine, 29, 1043–1053CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Angold, A., Costello, E. J., & Worthman, C. M. (1998). Puberty and depression: The roles of age, pubertal status, and pubertal timing. Psychological Medicine, 28, 51–16CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Archibald, A. B., Graber, J. A., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Warren, M. P. (2004). Effects of the earliest pubertal and hormonal changes on pre-adolescent girls' mood: A short-term longitudinal study. Submitted for publication

Baltes, P. B., Lindenberger, U., & Staudinger, U. M. (1998). Life-span theory in developmental psychology. In Damon, W. (Series Ed.), & Lerner, R. M. (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (pp. 939–991). New York: WileyGoogle Scholar

Berndt, T. J. (1996). Transitions in friendship and friends' influence. In Graber, J. A., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Petersen, A. C. (Eds.), Transitions through adolescence: Interpersonal domains and context. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum AssociatesGoogle Scholar

Birmaher, B., Ryan, N. D., Williamson, D. E., Brent, D. A., Kaufman, J., Dahl, R. E. (1996). Childhood and adolescent depression: A review of the past 10 years. Part I. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 1427–1439CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Brooks-Gunn, J., Graber, J. A., & Paikoff, R. L. (1994). Studying links between hormones and negative affect: Models and measures. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 4(4), 469–486CrossRef Google Scholar

Brooks-Gunn, J., & Petersen, A. C. (Eds.). (1991). The emergence of depression and depressive symptoms during adolescence [Special issue]. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 20

Brooks-Gunn, J., Petersen, A. C., & Eichorn, D. (1985). The study of maturational timing effects in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 14(3), 149–161CrossRef Google Scholar

Brooks-Gunn, J., & Reiter, E. O. (1990). The role of pubertal processes in the early adolescent transition. In Feldman, S. & Elliott, G. (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 16–53). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University PressGoogle Scholar

Brooks-Gunn, J., & Warren, M. P. (1989). Biological contributions to affective expression in young adolescent girls. Child Development, 60, 372–385CrossRef Google Scholar

Bruer, J. T., & Greenough, W. T. (2001). The subtle science of how experience affects the brain. In Bailey, D. B. Jr., Bruer, J. T., Symons, F. J., & Lichtman, J. W. (Eds.), Critical thinking about critical periods (pp. 3–26). Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing CoGoogle Scholar

Buchanan, C. M., Eccles, J. S., & Becker, J. B. (1992). Are adolescents the victims of raging hormones: Evidence for activational effects of hormones on moods and behavior at adolescence. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 62–107CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Cairns, R. B. (1998). Developmental plasticity and continuity in social interactions: Attachment and aggression. In National Institute of Mental Health, Advancing research on developmental plasticity: Integrating the behavioral science and neuroscience of mental health (pp. 153–163; NIH Pub. No. 98–4338). Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health

Cairns, R. B., & Cairns, B. D. (1994). Lifelines and risks: Pathways of youth in our time. New York: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar

Cairns, R. B., & Cairns, B. D. (2000). The natural history of developmental functions of aggression. In Sameroff, A. J., Lewis, M. & Miller, S. M. (Eds.), Handbook of developmental psychopathology (2nd ed., pp. 403–429). New York: Plenum PressCrossRef Google Scholar

Caspi, A., Lynam, D., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A. (1993). Unraveling girls' delinquency: Biological, dispositional, and contextual contributions to adolescent misbehavior. Developmental Psychology, 29, 19–30CrossRef Google Scholar

Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (1991). Individual differences are accentuated during periods of social change: The sample case of girls at puberty. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 157–168CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Cauffman, E. & Steinberg, L. (1996). Interactive effects of menarcheal status and dating on dieting and disordered eating among adolescent girls. Developmental Psychology, 32, 631–635CrossRef Google Scholar

Crockett, L. J., & Petersen, A. C. (1987). Pubertal status and psychosocial development: Findings from the Early Adolescence Study. In Lerner, R. M. & Foch, T. T. (Eds.), Biological–psychosocial interactions in early adolescence: A life-span perspective (pp. 173–188). Hillsdale, NJ: ErlbaumGoogle Scholar

Dick, D. M., Rose, R. J., Kaprio, J., & Viken, R. J. (2000). Pubertal timing and substance use: Associations between and within families across late adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 36, 180–189CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Eccles, J. S., Midgley, C., Wigfield, A., Buchanan, C. M., Reuman, D., Flanagan, C. (1993). Development during adolescence: The impact of stage-environment fit in young adolescents' experiences in schools and in families. American Psychologist, 48, 90–101CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Finkelstein, J. W., Susman, E. J., Chinchilli, V. M., Kunselman, S. J., D'Arcangelo, M. R., Schwab, J. (1997). Estrogen or testosterone increases self-reported aggressive behaviors in hypogonadal adolescents. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 82, 2433–2438Google Scholar PubMed

Gargiulo, J., Attie, I., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Warren, M. P. (1987). Girls' dating behavior as a function of social context and maturation. Developmental Psychology, 23 (5), 730–737CrossRef Google Scholar

Ge, X., Brody, G. H., Conger, R. D., Simons, R. L., & Murry, V. M. (2002). Contextual amplification of pubertal transition effects on deviant peer affiliation and externalizing behavior among African American children. Developmental Psychology, 38, 42–54CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Ge, X., Conger, R. D., & Elder, G. H. Jr. (2001a). Pubertal transition, stressful life events, and the emergence of gender differences in adolescent depressive symptoms. Developmental Psychology, 37, 404–417CrossRef Google Scholar

Ge, X., Conger, R. D., & Elder, G. H. Jr. (2001b). The relationship between puberty and psychological distress in adolescent boys. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11, 49–70CrossRef Google Scholar

Goodyer, I. M., Herbert, J., Tamplin, A., & Altham, P. M. E. (2000). First-episode major depression in adolescents: Affective, cognitive and endocrine characteristics of risk status and predictors of onset. British Journal of Psychiatry, 176, 142–149CrossRef Google Scholar

Graber, J. A., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1996). Transitions and turning points: Navigating the passage from childhood through adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 32(4), 768–776CrossRef Google Scholar

Graber, J. A., Brooks-Gunn, J., Paikoff, R. L., & Warren, M. P. (1994). Prediction of eating problems: An eight year study of adolescent girls. Developmental Psychology, 30, 823–834CrossRef Google Scholar

Graber, J. A., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Warren, M. P. (in press). Pubertal effects on adjustment in girls: Moving from demonstrating effects to identifying pathways. Journal of Youth & AdolescenceGoogle Scholar

Graber, J. A., Lewinsohn, P. M., Seeley, J. R., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1997). Is psychopathology associated with the timing of pubertal development?Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 1768–1776CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Graber, J. A., Petersen, A. C., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1996). Pubertal processes: Methods, measures, and models. In Graber, J. A., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Petersen, A. C. (Eds.), Transitions through adolescence: Interpersonal domains and context (pp. 23–53). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum & AssociatesGoogle Scholar

Graber, J. A., Seeley, J. R., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Lewinsohn, P. M. (2004). Pubertal timing and psychopathology: Are effects maintained in young adulthood?Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 43(6), 718–726CrossRef

Grumbach, M. M., & Styne, D. M. (1998). Puberty: Ontogeny, neuroendocrinology, physiology, and disorders. In Wilson, J. D., Fostor, D. W., & Kronenberg, H. M. (Eds.), Williams textbook of endocrinology (pp. 1509–1625). Philadelphia, PA: W. B. SaundersGoogle Scholar

Halpern, C. T., Udry, J. R., & Suchindran, C. (1997). Testosterone predicts initiation of coitus in adolescent females. Psychosomatic Medicine, 59, 161–171CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Hayward, C., Killen, J. D., Wilson, D. M., Hammer, L. D., Litt, I. F., Kraemer, H. C. (1997). Psychiatric risk associated with early puberty in adolescent girls. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 255–262Google Scholar PubMed

Huddleston, J., & Ge, X. (2003). Boys at puberty: Psychosocial implications. In Hayward, C. (Ed.), Gender differences at puberty (pp. 13–134). New York: Cambridge University PressCrossRef Google Scholar

Jones, M. C., & Bayley, N. (1950). Physical maturing among boys as related to behavior. Journal of Educational Psychology, 41, 129–148CrossRef Google Scholar

Jones, M. C., & Mussen, P. H. (1958). Self-conceptions, motivations, and interpersonal attitudes of early- and late-maturing girls. Child Development, 29, 491–501Google Scholar PubMed

Kaplowitz, P. B., Oberfield, S. E., & The Drug and Therapeutics and Executive Committees of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society. (1999). Reexamination of the age limit for defining when puberty is precocious in girls in the United States: Implications for evaluation and treatment. Pediatrics, 104, 936–941CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Keating, D. P. (1990). Adolescent thinking. In Feldman, S. & Elliott, G. (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 54–90). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University PressGoogle Scholar

Lahey, B. B., Loeber, R., Quay, H. C., Applegate, B., Shaffer, D., Waldman, I. (1998). Validity of DSM-IV subtypes of conduct disorder based on age of onset. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 435–442CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Lanza, S. T., & Collins, L. M. (2002). Pubertal timing and the onset of substance use in females during early adolescence. Prevention Science, 3, 69–82CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Lewinsohn, P. M., Rohde, P., & Seeley, J. R. (1998). Major depressive disorder in older adolescents: Prevalence, risk factors, and clinical implications. Clinical Psychology Review, 18, 765–794CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Loeber, R., Farrington, D. P., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., & Kammen, W. B. (1998). Antisocial behavior and mental health problems: Explanatory factors in childhood and adolescence. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum AssociatesGoogle Scholar

Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674–701CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Nichols, T. R., Graber, J. A., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Botvin, G. J. (2004). Gender differences in aggression and delinquency among urban minority middle school students. Submitted for publication

Paikoff, R., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1991). Do parent–child relationships change during puberty?Psychological Bulletin, 110(1), 47–66CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Paikoff, R. L., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Warren, M. P. (1991). Effects of girls' hormonal status on depressive and aggressive symptoms over the course of one year. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 20, 191–215CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Pajer, K. A. (1998). What happens to “bad” girls? A review of the adult outcomes of antisocial adolescent girls. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 862–870CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Pickles, A., & Rutter, M. (1991). Statistical and conceptual models of ‘turning points’ in developmental processes. In Magnusson, D., Bergman, L. R., Rudinger, G., & Torestad, B. (Eds.), Problems and methods in longitudinal research: Stability and change. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University PressCrossRef Google Scholar

Rutter, M. (1994). Continuities, transitions and turning points in development. In Rutter, M. & Hay, D. F. (Eds.), Development through life: A handbook for clinicians (pp. 1–25). London: Blackwell Scientific PublicationsGoogle Scholar

Spear, L. P. (2000). The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 24, 417–463CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Stattin, H., & Magnusson, D. (1990). Paths through life: Vol. 2. Pubertal maturation in female development. Hillsdale, NJ: ErlbaumGoogle Scholar

Steinberg, L. (2001). We know some things: Parent–adolescent relationships in retrospect and prospect. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11, 1–19CrossRef Google Scholar

Steinberg, L., & Morris, A. S. (2001). Adolescent development. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 83–110CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Steiner-Adair, C. (1986). The body politic: Normal adolescent development and the development of eating disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 14, 95–114CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Stice, E., Presnell, K., & Bearman, S. K. (2001). Relation of early menarche to depression, eating disorders, substance abuse, and comorbid psychopathology among adolescent girls. Developmental Psychology, 37, 608–619CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Stormshak, E. A., Bierman, K. L., and The Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (1998). The implications of different developmental patterns of disruptive behavior problems for school adjustment. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 451–467CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Susman, E. J. (1997). Modeling developmental complexity in adolescence: Hormones and behavior in context. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 7, 283–306CrossRef Google Scholar

Susman, E. J., Finkelstein, J. W., Chinchilli, V. M., Schwab, J., Liben, L. S., D'Arcangelo, M. R. (1998). The effect of sex hormone replacement therapy on behavior problems and moods in adolescents with delayed puberty. Journal of Pediatrics, 133, 521–525CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Susman, E. J., Inoff-Germain, G. E., Nottelmann, E. D., Loriaux, D. L., Cutler, G. B. Jr., & Chrousos, G. P. (1987). Hormones, emotional dispositions, and aggressive attributes in early adolescents. Child Development, 58, 1114–1134CrossRef Google Scholar

Susman, E. J., Nottelmann, E. D., Inoff-Germain, G. E., Dorn, L. D., Cutler, G. B., Loriaux, D. L. (1985). The relation of relative hormone levels and physical development and social–emotional behavior in young adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 14, 245–264CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Tanner, J. M. (1962). Growth at adolescence. New York: LippincottGoogle Scholar

Tanner, J. M. (1970). Physical growth. In Mussen, P. H. (Ed.), Carmichael's manual of child psychology (pp. 77–155). New York: WileyGoogle Scholar

Udry, J. R., & Campbell, B. C. (1994). Getting started on sexual behavior. In Rossi, A. S. (Ed.), Sexuality across the life course. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation series on mental health and development: Studies on successful midlife development (pp. 187–207). Chicago: University of Chicago PressGoogle Scholar

Warren, M. P., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1989). Mood and behavior at adolescence: Evidence for hormonal factors. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 69, 77–83CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Wichstrom, L. (2001). The impact of pubertal timing on adolescents' alcohol use. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11, 131–150CrossRef Google Scholar

Williams, J. M., & Dunlop, L. C. (1999). Pubertal timing and self-reported delinquency among male adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 22, 157–171CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed