title: A systematic review of adrenarche as a sensitive period in neurobiological development and mental health.
abstract: Substantial hormonal and neurobiological changes occur during puberty, and 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 research focusing on adrenarche, the earlier phase of pubertal development. Furthermore, there is a limited understanding of the association between adrenarche and neural development during this phase of life. We systematically reviewed research examining human adrenarcheal development as operationalized by hormonal levels of DHEA and DHEA-S, in relation to indices of mental health (Systematic Review 1). We then reviewed the limited amount of literature that has examined the association between adrenarcheal development and brain structure or function (Systematic Review 2). In general, studies showed that earlier timing of adrenarche was associated with greater mental health symptoms, and there is emerging support that brain development plays a role in this relationship. However, several methodological inconsistencies were noted. We propose that future research in this area test a theoretical model of adrenarche as a sensitive period of neurobiological development, whereby timing of exposure to hormones interacts with brain development, biological sex, and psychosocial stress to influence environmental sensitivity and risk for mental health problems through adolescence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.affiliation: Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Whittle
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
authors.forename: Nandita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vijayakumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Meg
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dennison
authors.affiliation: Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Victoria, Australia; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Julian G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Simmons
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: nallen3@uoregon.edu.
authors.forename: Nicholas B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Allen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D050499:Adrenarche / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D012741:Sexual Maturation / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Adrenarche; Brain development; Mental health; Puberty; Sensitive periods