@article{ref1,
title="The impact of time since menarche for depressive and anxiety symptom severity in adolescence and young adulthood",
journal="Journal of Adolescent Health",
year="2024",
author="Zhang, Zhenyu Z. and Peckins, Melissa K. and Beal, Sarah J. and Schnabel, David J. Jr and Shenk, Chad E. and Dorn, Lorah D.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="PURPOSE: The study mapped depressive and anxiety symptom trajectories throughout adolescence and early adulthood, arrayed by time since menarche, a novel indicator of pubertal change and examined the effect of age of menarche and pubertal timing, more frequently used variables, on depressive and anxiety symptom severity trajectories. <br><br>METHODS: Secondary analysis of a cross-sequential prospective longitudinal investigation included a community sample of 262 US, adolescent females. Participants were enrolled in age cohorts of 11, 13, 15, and 17 years. Four annual waves of data were collected. Self-report of age at menarche was categorized into pubertal timing categories. A novel measure &quot;time since menarche&quot; (chronological age at each wave minus age at menarche), was measured along with depressive and anxiety symptom severity. Two-piece growth curve modeling with landmark registration examined depressive and anxiety symptom severity trajectories according to time since menarche. <br><br>RESULTS: There was no change (p >.05) in depression and anxiety symptom severity before menarche; however, in the years leading away from menarche, depression and anxiety symptom severity decreased (p <.05). Age at menarche was not associated with change in depressive and anxiety symptom severity (p >.05) and there were no moderating effects of pubertal timing. <br><br>DISCUSSION: Depressive and anxiety symptoms decrease in the years leading away from menarche, suggesting puberty-related psychopathology may be transitory in some individuals. Time since menarche may be a clinically relevant indicator of psychological functioning in pubescent adolescent females. Future studies should examine this variable in larger samples, including more adolescents in the earlier stages of puberty.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1054-139X",
doi="10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.03.010",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.03.010"
}