3-063 - The role of DHEA and other adrenal hormones in stress reactivity and mental health during late childhood and early adolescence

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Substantial hormonal and neurobiological changes during puberty, including increases in hormones and hormonal reactivity, are widely argued to render this period of life a sensitive period in terms of risk for mental health problems. However, there is a paucity of work on adrenal hormones, which increase gradually across adolescence and are associated with acute and chronic stress, or on covariation between hormones. This symposium focuses on how adrenal hormones such as dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulfate (DHEA-S) are associated with psychosocial stress, risk for mental health problems, and covariation with other hormones in late childhood and early adolescence.

The first paper found that increasing DHEA-S reactivity to social stress was associated with higher ratings of callous-unemotional traits, and suggests that DHEA-S may be an important early biomarker for antisocial traits. The second paper examined hormonal stress reactivity to social stress from a dual hormone systems approach and suggests that multiple hormones (cortisol, DHEA, and testosterone) form an integrated psychosocial stress response in adolescence. The third paper suggests that neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage may be a salient form of stress associated with covariation between hormones. Finally, the fourth paper extends prior cross-sectional work by examining longitudinal associations between DHEA/DHEA-S in late childhood and symptoms of emotional and behavioral problems in early adolescence.

Overall, results from this symposium have the potential to significantly inform models of both pubertal and mental health development from an integrated biological and psychosocial perspective.

Sub Unit

• Biology and Neuroscience

Chair

• Michelle Lynn Byrne, University of Oregon

Individual Presentations

• Reactive DHEA(s) is Associated with Callous Unemotional Traits in Institutionalized Youth - Presenting Author: Andrew Dismukes, Iowa State University; Stacy Drury, Tulane University; Elizabeth Shirtcliff, Iowa State University; Kathryn L. Humphreys, Stanford University; Charles A. Nelson, Harvard Medical School; Nathan Fox, 3. Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland; Charles Zeanah, Tulane University

• Dual Hormone Axis Reactivity to Social Evaluative Threat Among Mexican American Adolescents - Presenting Author: Megan Johnson, Berkeley; Julianna Deardorff, UC Berkeley; Brenda Eskenazi, University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health; Kimberly Parra, Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health, University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health (CERCH); Elizabeth Shirtcliff, Iowa State University

• Neighborhood Indices of Socioeconomic Advantage/Disadvantage Moderate Associations Between Adrenarcheal Hormones in Mid-Childhood - Presenting Author: Julian G. Simmons, The University of Melbourne; Sarah Whittle, The University of Melbourne; Lisa Mundy, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute; Rachel Ellis, University of Melbourne; Louise Canterford, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute; Nicholas B. Allen, University of Oregon; George Patton, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute

• Adrenarche and Mental Health Problems in Late Childhood - Presenting Author: Lisa Mundy, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute; Monsurul Hoq, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute; Louise Canterford, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute; Russell Viner, Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Nicholas B. Allen, University of Oregon; George Patton, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute