title: Contextual amplification or attenuation of pubertal timing effects on depressive symptoms among Mexican American girls.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the role of neighborhood contextual variation in the putative association between pubertal timing and depressive symptoms among Mexican-origin girls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mexican-origin girls (N = 344; x̄(age) = 10.8 years) self-reported their total pubertal, adrenal, and gonadal events, along with levels of depressive symptoms in the 5th grade. Girls' residential addresses were geocoded into neighborhoods, and census data were obtained to describe neighborhoods along two dimensions: Hispanic cultural context and socioeconomic disadvantage. Two years later, when most of the girls were in the 7th grade, we reassessed the girls regarding depressive symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Neighborhood Hispanic composition and neighborhood disadvantage were highly positively correlated. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we examined the moderating influence of neighborhood Hispanic composition and neighborhood disadvantage on the prospective associations between pubertal timing (total, gonadal, and adrenal) and depressive symptoms. Neighborhood Hispanic composition moderated the prospective association between total pubertal and gonadal timing and depressive symptoms. Neighborhood disadvantage did not moderate these associations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that early maturing 5th grade Mexican-origin girls living in non-Hispanic neighborhoods are at the greatest risk for increased depressive symptoms in the 7th grade, even though these neighborhoods tend to be socioeconomically more advantaged. The protective cultural context of largely Hispanic neighborhoods may outweigh the potential amplifying effects of neighborhood disadvantage.
authors.affiliation: School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-3701, USA. rebecca.white@asu.edu
authors.forename: Rebecca M B
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Julianna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deardorff
authors.forename: Nancy A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Gonzales
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D015987:Effect Modifier, Epidemiologic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011627:Puberty / Q000523:psychology*; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012931:Social Environment; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014481:United States; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data