Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London.
Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, Balamand University.
Dev Psychol. 2023 Sep;59(9):1559-1572. doi: 10.1037/dev0001569. Epub 2023 Jul 6.
Increasing research shows pubertal development accelerates following threats while it decelerates following deprivation. Yet, these environmental stressors are unlikely to occur in isolation. We investigated how war exposure and energetic stress impact pubertal development using data from the longitudinal Biological Pathways of Risk and Resilience in Syrian Refugee Children study. Our sample included 1,600 male and female Syrian refugee children and their caregivers who lived in temporary settlements in Lebanon. We hypothesized that (a) energetic stress suppresses pubertal development; (b) war exposure accelerates pubertal timing in boys and increases risk of menarche in girls, but only when energetic stress is low; and (c) when energetic stress is elevated, effects of war exposure on pubertal development will be attenuated. Among boys, we did not find support for Hypothesis 1, but Hypotheses 2 and 3 were supported. Exposure to morbidity/mortality threats accelerated pubertal timing; this effect was attenuated under conditions of elevated energetic stress. Among girls, we found support for Hypothesis 1, but not for Hypotheses 2 and 3. Elevated energetic stress decreased the risk of menarche in girls. Neither war exposure, nor any interactions with energetic stress, predicted risk of menarche. Sensitivity analyses revealed a significant interaction between bombing exposure and the amount of time since leaving Syria. Bombing decreased the risk of menarche, but only for girls who had left Syria four or more years prior to data collection. We discuss implications for translational efforts advocating for puberty screening in medical and mental health settings to identify trauma-exposed youth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
越来越多的研究表明，青春期发育在受到威胁时会加速，而在受到剥夺时会减速。然而，这些环境压力源不太可能孤立存在。我们使用叙利亚难民儿童风险和恢复的生物学途径纵向研究的数据，调查了战争暴露和能量应激如何影响青春期发育。我们的样本包括 1600 名居住在黎巴嫩临时定居点的叙利亚男童和女童及其照顾者。我们假设：(a)能量应激抑制青春期发育；(b)战争暴露加速男孩青春期开始时间，并增加女孩初潮风险，但前提是能量应激水平较低；(c)当能量应激水平升高时，战争暴露对青春期发育的影响将会减弱。对于男孩，我们没有发现假设 1 的证据，但假设 2 和 3 得到了支持。发病率/死亡率威胁的暴露加速了青春期的开始；在能量应激水平升高的情况下，这种效应会减弱。对于女孩，我们发现假设 1 得到了支持，但假设 2 和 3 没有得到支持。较高的能量应激降低了女孩初潮的风险。无论是战争暴露还是与能量应激的任何相互作用，都没有预测初潮的风险。敏感性分析显示，爆炸暴露与离开叙利亚后的时间之间存在显著的交互作用。爆炸降低了初潮的风险，但仅限于在数据收集前四年或更早离开叙利亚的女孩。我们讨论了在医疗和心理健康环境中提倡青春期筛查以识别创伤暴露青年的转化努力的意义。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2023 APA，保留所有权利）。
