TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2024//
TI  - The impact of time since menarche for depressive and anxiety symptom severity in adolescence and young adulthood
JO  - Journal of Adolescent Health
A1  - Zhang, Zhenyu Z.
A1  - Peckins, Melissa K.
A1  - Beal, Sarah J.
A1  - Schnabel, David J. Jr
A1  - Shenk, Chad E.
A1  - Dorn, Lorah D.
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - 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 "time since menarche" (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>
LA  - en
SN  - 1054-139X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.03.010
ID  - ref1
ER  -