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Adrenarche and Middle Childhood

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Abstract

Middle childhood, the period from 6 to 12 years of age, is defined socially by increasing autonomy and emotional regulation, somatically by the development of anatomical structures for subsistence, and endocrinologically by adrenarche, the adrenal production of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Here I suggest that DHEA plays a key role in the coordinated development of the brain and body beginning with middle childhood, via energetic allocation. I argue that with adrenarche, increasing levels of circulating DHEA act to down-regulate the release of glucose into circulation and hence limit the supply of glucose which is needed by the brain for synaptogenesis. Furthermore, I suggest the antioxidant properties of DHEA may be important in maintaining synaptic plasticity throughout middle childhood within slow-developing areas of the cortex, including the insula, thamalus, and anterior cingulate cortex. In addition, DHEA may play a role in the development of body odor as a reliable social signal of behavioral changes associated with middle childhood.

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Notes

  1. Cyberball is a virtual ball-toss game that can be used for research on ostracism, social exclusion, or rejection. See http://www1.psych.purdue.edu/~willia55/Announce/cyberball.htm (accessed August 5, 2011).

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Acknowledgments

The development of the ideas presented here owes much to discussion with many of my colleagues and students. I especially want to thank Jennifer Danzy and J. D. Pampush for reading an earlier version of this manuscript. I also want to thank Peter Gray for his thoughtful encouragement. Finally, I want to thank Jane Lancaster for her patience. Of course, any mistakes are my own.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 290 Sabin Hall, 3413 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee, WI, 53211, USA

    Benjamin C. Campbell

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Campbell, B.C. Adrenarche and Middle Childhood. Hum Nat 22, 327–349 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-011-9120-x

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