Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
J Adolesc Health. 2018 Jun;62(6):722-728. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.12.019.
Sex differences in depression emerge in adolescence, in concert with puberty. Off-time maturers, especially early-maturing girls, report more depressive symptoms than their same-sex peers. Recent evidence shows that these pubertal timing effects persist into adulthood, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear.
Participants were 318 young adults (201 women, 117 men) who rated their depressive symptoms in the past 2 weeks and provided valid retrospective reports of their pubertal timing. Controlling for age, regression analyses were used to examine effects of sex, linear and quadratic pubertal timing, and their interaction on depressive symptoms. (Non)linear indirect effects analyses were used to identify psychological mechanisms (self-perceived masculinity, positive affect, and negative affect) underlying persisting effects, separately for men and women.
For young men, pubertal timing effects on depression were linear, with later maturers reporting more symptoms. Effects were partially explained by late maturers' low self-perceptions of masculinity and low positive affect. For young women, pubertal timing effects on depression were quadratic, with early and late maturers reporting more symptoms than on-time maturers. Effects were partially explained by off-time maturers' high negative affect.
Pubertal timing is related to adult depressive symptoms, but the nature of the link and the mechanisms underlying it differ for men and women. This increases understanding of the long-term consequences of gendered adolescent experiences and may have downstream implications for individualized prevention and intervention through gender-related individual differences that contribute to heterogeneity in depression etiology.
抑郁症在青春期与青春期同时出现性别差异。成熟时间异常的人，尤其是早熟的女孩，比同性别同龄人报告更多的抑郁症状。最近的证据表明，这些青春期时间效应持续到成年期，但潜在的机制尚不清楚。
参与者为 318 名年轻人（201 名女性，117 名男性），他们在过去 2 周内评估了自己的抑郁症状，并提供了自己青春期时间的有效回顾性报告。控制年龄后，使用回归分析来检查性别、线性和二次青春期时间及其相互作用对抑郁症状的影响。（非）线性间接效应分析用于确定男性和女性中持续影响的潜在心理机制（自我感知的男性气质、积极情绪和消极情绪）。
对于年轻男性，青春期时间对抑郁的影响是线性的，成熟较晚的人报告的症状更多。这些影响部分可以通过晚熟者自我感知的男性气质较低和积极情绪较低来解释。对于年轻女性，青春期时间对抑郁的影响是二次的，早期和晚期成熟者比按时成熟者报告更多的症状。这些影响部分可以通过异常成熟者的高消极情绪来解释。
青春期时间与成年期抑郁症状有关，但这种联系的性质和潜在机制因性别而异。这增加了对性别化青少年经历的长期后果的理解，并可能通过导致抑郁病因异质性的与性别相关的个体差异，对个体化预防和干预产生下游影响。
