Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Dev Psychobiol. 2021 Apr;63(3):512-528. doi: 10.1002/dev.22028. Epub 2020 Aug 30.
Adolescents experience profound neuroendocrine changes, including hormone "coupling" between cortisol, testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone. Emerging research has only begun to elucidate the role of hormone coupling, its genetic and environmental etiology, and the extent to which coupling is impacted by gender, puberty, and family context. We included measures on parent and child mental health, parenting stress, and family conflict of 444 twin pairs and their parents across two timepoints, when youth were on average 8 and 13 years old, respectively. Structural equation models examined the impact of family context effects on coupling during adolescence. Biometric twin models were then used to probe additive genetic, shared, and non-shared environmental effects on hormone coupling. Hormones were more tightly coupled for females than males, and coupling was sensitive to parental depression and co-twin psychopathology symptoms and stress exposure in females. The association between family context and coupling varied across specific neuroendocrine measures and was largely distinct from pubertal maturation. Biometric models revealed robust shared and non-shared environmental influences on coupling. We found that family antecedents modify the strength of coupling. Environmental influences account for much of the variation on coupling during puberty. Gender differences were found in genetic influences on coupling.
青少年经历深刻的神经内分泌变化，包括皮质醇、睾酮和脱氢表雄酮之间的激素“耦合”。新兴研究才刚刚开始阐明激素耦合的作用、其遗传和环境病因，以及耦合受性别、青春期和家庭环境影响的程度。我们在两个时间点上纳入了 444 对双胞胎及其父母的关于父母和孩子心理健康、育儿压力和家庭冲突的测量，当时青少年的平均年龄分别为 8 岁和 13 岁。结构方程模型研究了家庭环境效应对青春期激素耦合的影响。然后使用双生子生物模型来探讨激素耦合的加性遗传、共享和非共享环境影响。女性的激素耦合比男性更紧密，并且耦合对父母的抑郁和同卵双胞胎的精神病理学症状以及女性的应激暴露敏感。家庭环境与耦合的关联因特定的神经内分泌测量而变化，并且与青春期成熟有很大不同。生物计量模型揭示了耦合的强大共享和非共享环境影响。我们发现，家庭因素会改变耦合的强度。环境影响解释了青春期耦合变化的大部分原因。在激素耦合的遗传影响方面存在性别差异。
