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Clarifying the Associations between Age at Menarche and Adolescent Emotional and Behavioral Problems

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Abstract

Better understanding risk factors for the development of adolescent emotional and behavioral problems can help with intervention and prevention efforts. Previous studies have found that an early menarcheal age predicts several adolescent problems, including depressive symptoms, delinquency, and early age at first intercourse. Few studies, nevertheless, have explicitly tested (a) whether the associations with menarcheal age vary across racial/ethnic groups or (b) whether the sources of the associations are within-families (i.e., consistent with a direct, causal link) or only between-families (i.e., due to selection or confounding factors). The current study analyzed data from a nationally representative US Sample of females (N = 5,637). We examined whether race/ethnicity moderated the associations between early menarche and several adolescent problems by using multiple-group analyses and we examined the degree to which genetic and environmental factors shared by family members account for the associations by comparing sisters and cousins with differing menarcheal ages. Menarcheal age predicted subsequent depressive symptoms, delinquency, and early age at first intercourse in the population. The magnitudes of the associations were similar across all racial/ethnic groups for all outcomes. The within-family associations (i.e., when comparing siblings and cousins with different menarcheal age) were large and statistically significant when predicting early intercourse, but not the other outcomes. The findings suggest that selection or confounding factors account for the associations between menarcheal age and subsequent depressive symptoms and delinquency, whereas the independent association between menarcheal age and early age at first intercourse is consistent with a direct, causal effect.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Indiana University Adam W. Herbert Graduate Fellowship, and Grants F31-HD079266-01A1 and R01-HD061384 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The research was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Indiana University. The authors would like to thank Dr. Martin Rickert for preparing the three-panel figure within the manuscript.

Author contributions

E. V. conceived of the study, participated in the theoretical framing, design, measurement and analytic plan, conducted analyses, and drafted the manuscript; C. V. H. participated in the operationalization and measurement of key variables and revisions of the manuscript, and provided analytical consultation; W. B. participated in the measurement of key variables and assisted in interpretation of the study and revisions of the manuscript; J. R. participated in the theoretical framing, measurement of key variables, interpretation of the study, and revisions of the manuscript; B. D. helped conceive of the study, participated in the theoretical framing, design, measurement, and analytic plan, and helped draft and revise the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Erikka B. Vaughan & Brian M. D’Onofrio

  2. Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Carol A. Van Hulle

  3. Department of Pediatrics, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, 73104, USA

    William H. Beasley

  4. Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37235, USA

    Joseph L. Rodgers

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  1. Erikka B. Vaughan
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Correspondence to Erikka B. Vaughan.

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Vaughan, E.B., Van Hulle, C.A., Beasley, W.H. et al. Clarifying the Associations between Age at Menarche and Adolescent Emotional and Behavioral Problems. J Youth Adolescence 44, 922–939 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0255-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0255-7

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