Childhood experience, interpersonal development, and reproductive strategy: and evolutionary theory of socialization

The effect of childhood harshness and unpredictability on Internet addiction among college students: The mediating effect of self-control

College students are inevitably online and at risk of becoming addicted. Life history theory provides an explanatory framework for individual differences in Internet addiction, and childhood harshness and unpredictability may be important antecedents. However, it is unclear whether and how childhood harshness and/or unpredictability affect Internet addiction during college. In this study, we recruited 483 Chinese college students and assessed their childhood harshness, unpredictability, self-control, and Internet addiction. The results of path analysis showed that childhood unpredictability was positively associated with Internet addiction among college students and was partially mediated by self-control. The effect of harshness on Internet addiction showed a suppression effect, i.e., the direct effect of harshness on Internet addiction was negative and the indirect effect through self-control was positive. This suggests that the high risk of Internet addiction stems from harshness and unpredictability in childhood, but that the effects of these factors are independent and distinct. Self-control plays an important role in this process, but many internal mechanisms remain to be tested in future research.

Association between neighborhood poverty and ovarian reserve: the ovarian aging study

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to examine the association between neighborhood poverty and ovarian reserve.

METHODS

Among 1,019 healthy premenopausal women in the Ovarian Aging Study, aggregate exposure to neighborhood poverty was examined in relation to biomarkers of ovarian reserve, antimüllerian hormone (AMH) and antral follicle count (AFC). Specifically, the interaction of age-x-neighborhood poverty was assessed cross-sectionally to determine whether AMH and AFC declines across women may be greater in women exposed to more neighborhood poverty. Neighborhood poverty was assessed by geocoding and linking women's residential addresses in adulthood to US Census data.

RESULTS

Independent of covariates, a significant interaction term showed the association between age and AMH varied by degree of exposure to neighborhood poverty in adulthood ( b = -0.001, P < 0.05). AMH declines increased progressively across women exposed to low, medium, and high levels of neighborhood poverty. In addition, main effects showed that higher neighborhood poverty was related to higher AMH in the younger women only ( b = 0.022, P < 0.01). Results related to AFC were all nonsignificant ( P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Across women, greater aggregate exposure to neighborhood poverty in adulthood was related to lower ovarian reserve, indexed by AMH. In addition, there was a positive association between neighborhood poverty and AMH in younger women that attenuated in the older women. Together, results suggest that neighborhood disadvantage may have detrimental impacts that manifest as initially higher AMH, resulting in greater ovarian follicle loss over time. However, it remains unclear whether these results examining differences across women may replicate when AMH declines by neighborhood poverty are examined longitudinally.

The Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Preterm Delivery: A Latent Class Approach

Background: Racial and socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in preterm delivery (PTD) have existed in the United States for decades. Disproportionate maternal exposures to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may increase the risk for adverse birth outcomes. Moreover, racial and SES disparities exist in the prevalence of ACEs, underscoring the need for research that examines whether ACEs contribute to racial and SES disparities in PTD. Methods: We examined the relationship between ACEs and PTD in a longitudinal sample of N = 3,884 women from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (1994-2018). We applied latent class analysis to (1) identify subgroups of women characterized by patterns of ACE occurrence; (2) estimate the association between latent class membership (LCM) and PTD, and (3) examine whether race and SES influence LCM or the association between LCM and PTD. Results: Two latent classes were identified, with women in the high ACEs class characterized by a higher probability of emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and foster care placement compared with the low ACEs class, but neither class was associated with PTD. Race and SES did not predict LCM. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that ACEs may not impact PTD risk in previously hypothesized ways. Future research should assess the impact of ACEs on the probability of having live birth pregnancies as well as the role of potential protective factors in mitigating the impact of ACEs on PTD.

Childhood adversity and accelerated reproductive events: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

Accelerated female reproductive events represent the early onset of reproductive events involving puberty, menarche, pregnancy loss, first sexual intercourse, first birth, parity, and menopause. This study aimed to explore the association between childhood adversity and accelerated female reproductive events.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase were systematically searched from September 22, 2022 to September 23, 2022.

STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Observational cohort, cross-sectional, and case-control studies in human populations were included if they reported the time of reproductive events for female individuals with experience of childhood adversity and were published in English.

METHODS

Two reviewers independently screened studies, obtained data, and assessed study quality, and conflicts were resolved by a third reviewer. Dichotomous outcomes were evaluated using meta-analysis, and pooled odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were generated using random-effects models. Moderation analysis and meta-regression were used to investigate heterogeneity.

RESULTS

In total, 21 cohort studies, 9 cross-sectional studies, and 3 case-control studies were identified. Overall, female individuals with childhood adversity were nearly 2 times more likely to report accelerated reproductive events than those with no adversity exposure (odds ratio, 1.91; 95% confidence interval, 1.33-2.76; I2=99.6%; P<.001). Moderation analysis indicated that effect sizes for the types of childhood adversity ranged from an odds ratio of 1.61 (95% confidence interval, 1.23-2.09) for low socioeconomic status to 2.13 (95% confidence interval, 1.14-3.99) for dysfunctional family dynamics. Among the 7 groups based on different reproductive events, including early onset of puberty, early menarche, early sexual initiation, teenage childbirth, preterm birth, pregnancy loss, and early menopause, early sexual initiation had a nonsignificant correlation with childhood adversity (odds ratio, 2.70; 95% confidence interval, 0.88-8.30; I2=99.9%; P<.001). Considerable heterogeneity (I2>75%) between estimates was observed for over half of the outcomes. Age, study type, and method of data collection could explain 35.9% of the variance.

CONCLUSION

The literature tentatively corroborates that female individuals who reported adverse events in childhood are more likely to experience accelerated reproductive events. This association is especially strong for exposure to abuse and dysfunctional family dynamics. However, the heterogeneity among studies was high, requiring caution in interpreting the findings and highlighting the need for further evaluation of the types and timing of childhood events that influence accelerated female reproductive events.

Different adverse childhood experiences and adolescents' altruism: The mediating role of life history strategy

INTRODUCTION

The present study sought to investigate whether the relationship between childhood trauma, childhood socioeconomic (SES), and adolescents' altruism were mediated by their life history strategies and different adverse childhood experiences may function diversely on altruism, with two waves of data collected 6 months apart in a longitudinal design among Chinese adolescents.

METHODS

A total of 658 adolescents (Mage  = 13.51, SD = 0.73 at T1) were recruited and completed the online survey; their life history strategies were measured by the Mini-K, the Delayed of Gratification Questionnaire (DOG), and the Chinese version of the Adolescent Risk-Taking Questionnaire (ARQ-RB) together, and their altruism was collected again after six months.

RESULTS

After controlling for gender and their altruism at T1, the results showed that childhood trauma (i.e., emotional maltreatment, physical maltreatment), as well as low SES and fast life history strategy, were significantly negatively correlated with adolescents' altruism at T2. Importantly, life history strategy at T1 mediated the relationship between T1 emotional maltreatment, T1 low SES, and adolescents' altruism at T2. However, the effect of physical maltreatment on altruism was not mediated by life history strategy.

CONCLUSIONS

This study indicated that emotional maltreatment and low SES can affect adolescents' altruism by influencing the formation of adolescents' life history strategies. The findings revealed the different influences of adverse childhood experiences on adolescents' altruism, which supplied new empirical evidence for the life history theory and provided certain reference values for cultivating adolescents' altruism.

Causal associations between female reproductive behaviors and psychiatric disorders: a lifecourse Mendelian randomization study

BACKGROUND

The timings of reproductive life events have been examined to be associated with various psychiatric disorders. However, studies have not considered the causal pathways from reproductive behaviors to different psychiatric disorders. This study aimed to investigate the nature of the relationships between five reproductive behaviors and twelve psychiatric disorders.

METHODS

Firstly, we calculated genetic correlations between reproductive factors and psychiatric disorders. Then two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) was conducted to estimate the causal associations among five reproductive behaviors, and these reproductive behaviors on twelve psychiatric disorders, using genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary data from genetic consortia. Multivariable MR was then applied to evaluate the direct effect of reproductive behaviors on these psychiatric disorders whilst accounting for other reproductive factors at different life periods.

RESULTS

Univariable MR analyses provide evidence that age at menarche, age at first sexual intercourse and age at first birth have effects on one (depression), seven (anxiety disorder, ADHD, bipolar disorder, bipolar disorder II, depression, PTSD and schizophrenia) and three psychiatric disorders (ADHD, depression and PTSD) (based on p<7.14×10-4), respectively. However, after performing multivariable MR, only age at first sexual intercourse has direct effects on five psychiatric disorders (Depression, Attention deficit or hyperactivity disorder, Bipolar disorder, Posttraumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia) when accounting for other reproductive behaviors with significant effects in univariable analyses.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that reproductive behaviors predominantly exert their detrimental effects on psychiatric disorders and age at first sexual intercourse has direct effects on psychiatric disorders.

Longitudinal Patterns of Multidimensional Violence Exposure and Adolescent Early Sexual Initiation

Early sexual intercourse is associated with sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy, and depressive symptoms, and delay of intercourse allows adolescents opportunities to practice relationship skills (Coker et al., 1994; Harden, 2012; Kugler et al., 2017; Spriggs & Halpern, 2008). Thus, understanding predictors of early sexual intercourse is crucial. Prior research has suggested that violence exposure is associated with early initiation of sexual intercourse in adolescence (Abajobir et al., 2018; Orihuela et al., 2020). However, most studies have looked only at a single type of violence exposure. In addition, little research has examined longitudinal patterns of violence exposure in order to determine whether there are particular periods when the violence exposure may have the strongest impact on sexual behavior. Guided by life history and cumulative disadvantage theories, we use longitudinal latent class analysis and data from the Future of Families and Child Well-being Study (N = 3,396; 51.1% female, 48.9% male) to examine how longitudinal patterns of multiple types of violence exposures across ages 3 to 15 are associated with early sexual initiation in adolescence. Findings suggest that experiencing persistent physical and emotional abuse across childhood was associated with the greatest prevalence of early sexual initiation. Early exposure to violence was not consistently associated with greater likelihood of sexual initiation; instead, early abuse was more strongly associated with sexual initiation for boys, while late childhood abuse was more strongly associated for girls. These findings suggest that gender-sensitive programs are highly needed to address unique risk factors for boys' and girls' sexual behaviors.

Pubertal timing and adolescent outcomes: investigating explanations for associations with a genetically informed design

BACKGROUND

Psychopathology and risky behaviors increase during adolescence, and understanding which adolescents are most at risk informs prevention and intervention efforts. Pubertal timing relative to same-sex, same-age peers is a known correlate of adolescent outcomes among both boys and girls. However, it remains unclear whether this relation is better explained by a plausible causal process or unobserved familial liability.

METHODS

We extended previous research by examining associations between pubertal timing in early adolescence (age 14) and outcomes in later adolescence (age 17) in a community sample of 2,510 twins (49% boys, 51% girls).

RESULTS

Earlier pubertal timing was associated with more substance use, risk behavior, internalizing and externalizing problems, and peer problems in later adolescence; these effects were small, consistent with previous literature. Follow-up co-twin control analyses indicated that within-twin-pair differences in pubertal timing were not associated with within-twin-pair differences in most adolescent outcomes after accounting for shared familial liability, suggesting that earlier pubertal timing and adolescent outcomes both reflect familial risk factors. Biometric models indicated that associations between earlier pubertal timing and negative adolescent outcomes were largely attributable to shared genetic liability.

CONCLUSIONS

Although earlier pubertal timing was associated with negative adolescent outcomes, our results suggests that these associations did not appear to be caused by earlier pubertal timing but were likely caused by shared genetic influences.

Introducing the Neuroplastic Narrative: a non-pathologizing biological foundation for trauma-informed and adverse childhood experience aware approaches

Most people accessing mental health services have adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and/or histories of complex trauma. In recognition of this, there are calls to move away from medical model approaches and move toward trauma-informed approaches which privilege the impact of life experience over underlying pathology in the etiology of emotional and psychological suffering. Trauma-informed approaches lack a biological narrative linking trauma and adversity to later suffering. In its absence, this suffering is diagnosed and treated as a mental illness. This study articulates the Neuroplastic Narrative, a neuroecological theory that fills this gap, conceptualizing emotional and psychological suffering as the cost of surviving and adapting to the impinging environments of trauma and adversity. The Neuroplastic Narrative privileges lived experience and recognizes that our experiences become embedded in our biology through evolved mechanisms that ultimately act to preserve survival in the service of reproduction. Neuroplasticity refers to the capacity of neural systems to adapt and change. Our many evolved neuroplastic mechanisms including epigenetics, neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and white matter plasticity allow us to learn from, and adapt to, past experiences. This learning and adaption in turn allows us to better anticipate and physiologically prepare for future experiences that (nature assumes) are likely to occur, based on past experiences. However, neuroplastic mechanisms cannot discriminate between experiences; they function to embed experience regardless of the quality of that experience, generating vicious or virtuous cycles of psychobiological anticipation, to help us survive or thrive in futures that resemble our privileged or traumatic pasts. The etiology of suffering that arises from this process is not a pathology (a healthy brain is a brain that can adapt to experience) but is the evolutionary cost of surviving traumatizing environments. Misidentifying this suffering as a pathology and responding with diagnosis and medication is not trauma-informed and may cause iatrogenic harm, in part through perpetuating stigma and exacerbating the shame which attends complex trauma and ACEs. As an alternative, this study introduces the Neuroplastic Narrative, which is situated within an evolutionary framework. The Neuroplastic Narrative complements both Life History and Attachment Theory and provides a non-pathologizing, biological foundation for trauma-informed and Adverse Childhood Experience aware approaches.

Childhood Environmental Unpredictability and Experimentally Primed Uncertainty in Relation to Intuitive versus Deliberate Visual Search

Visual search is an integral part of animal life. Two search strategies, intuitive vs. deliberate search, are adopted by almost all animals including humans to adapt to different extent of environmental uncertainty. In two eye-tracking experiments involving simple visual search (Study 1) and complex information search (Study 2), we used the evolutionary life history (LH) approach to investigate the interaction between childhood environmental unpredictability and primed concurrent uncertainty in enabling these two search strategies. The results indicate that when individuals with greater childhood unpredictability were exposed to uncertainty cues, they exhibited intuitive rather than deliberate visual search (i.e., fewer fixations, reduced dwell time, a larger saccade size, and fewer repetitive inspections relative to individuals with lower childhood unpredictability). We conclude that childhood environment is crucial in calibrating LH including visual and cognitive strategies to adaptively respond to current environmental conditions.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04667-1.

Patterns of Maternal Distress from Pregnancy Through Childhood Predict Psychopathology During Early Adolescence

Capitalizing on a longitudinal cohort followed from gestation through adolescence (201 mother-child dyads), we investigate the contributions of severity and stability of both maternal depressive and perceived stress symptoms to adolescent psychopathology. Maternal depressive and perceived stress trajectories from pregnancy through adolescence were identified with latent class growth analyses, and associations with adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms were examined. For both depression and stress, the most common trajectory group comprised mothers displaying stable and low symptom levels over time, and adolescents of these mothers had the fewest internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Maternal membership to one or more aberrant trajectory groups predicted higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, determined by both maternal and adolescent self-report. This study indicates that profiles of multiple indicators of maternal psychopathology assessed across childhood, beginning prenatally, can provide critical additional insight into child psychopathology risk.

Testing different sources of environmental unpredictability on adolescent functioning: ancestral cue versus statistical learning and the role of temperament

BACKGROUND

The dimensional model of environmental adversity highlighted the effects of an unpredictable environment in promoting risky development. Toward gaining greater specificity in understanding, this multimethod, longitudinal study investigated the role of two sources of environmental unpredictability-ancestral cues versus statistical learning, and their interaction with dove temperament conceptualized within the evolutionary model of temperament, in shaping adolescent functioning.

METHODS

Participants were 192 families with an adolescent (M_age  = 12.4) followed for two annual waves. We measured unpredictability within the ancestral-cue approach as incidents of disruptive family events, and statistical-learning unpredictability as the random variability in observed moment-to-moment maternal hostility during parent-child interaction. We focused on dove temperament, which characterizes strategies of cautious and inhibited behavior in novel contexts and persistence and intrinsic engagement in benign contexts.

RESULTS

Findings indicated unique effects of ancestral-cue versus statistical-learning unpredictability-in interaction with dove temperament-in association with adolescent functioning. Ancestral-cue unpredictability interacted with dove temperament in association with vagal stress reactivity, and the interactive effects of statistical-learning unpredictability were only associated with set-shifting. Furthermore, the family instability-x-dove temperament interaction was linked to adolescent adjustment via vagal reactivity. Adolescents with lower dove temperament showed dampened vagal reactivity within the more unpredictable environments, which was in turn associated with a greater decrease in social withdrawal over time.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlighted the specificity in different sources of environmental unpredictability in shaping adolescent development.

Patterns of parent screen use, child screen time, and child socio-emotional problems at 5 years

Digital media screens have become an essential part of our family life. However, we have insufficient knowledge about parental screen use patterns and how these affect children's socio-emotional development. In total, 867 Canadian parents of 5-year-old children from the TARGet Kids! Cohort (73.1% mothers, mean ± SD age = 38.88 ± 4.45 years) participated in this study from 2014 to the end of 2019. Parents reported parental and child time on television (TV) and handheld devices and completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Latent profile analysis identified six latent profiles of parent screen use: low handheld users (P1, reference; n = 323), more TV than handheld (P2; n = 261), equal TV and handheld (P3; n = 177), more handheld than TV (P4; n = 57), high TV and handheld (P5; n = 38), and extremely high TV and handheld (P6; n = 11). Parents that were more likely to belong to P6 were also more likely to be living in single-parent households compared to P1 (estimate = -1.49 ± 0.70), p = .03). High membership probability for P2 (estimate = -0.67 ± 0.32, p = .04) and P4 (estimate = -1.42 ± 0.40, p < 0.001) was associated with lower household income compared to P1. Children of parents with higher P4 (χ²  = 12.32, p < 0.001) or P5 (χ²  = 9.54, p = .002) membership probability had higher total screen time compared to P1. Finally, a higher likelihood to belong to P6 (χ²  = 6.82, p = .009) was associated with a higher SDQ Total Difficulties Score compared to P1. Thus, patterns of parent screen use were associated with child screen use and child socio-emotional problems. The emerging link between parental screen use profiles and child behaviors suggests the need for more research on parent screen time.

Variation in maternal sensitivity and the development of memory biases in preschoolers

Introduction

Links between maternal sensitivity, hippocampal development, and memory abilities suggests early life insensitive care may shape structures and schemas influencing future decisions and stress management, biasing children to negative information. While it is possible that this pattern of neurodevelopment may have adaptive consequences, for example, preventing children from encountering untoward experience with future adversity, it may also leave some children at risk for the development of internalizing problems.

Methods

Here, in a Two Wave Study, we examine whether insensitive care predicts sub sequentially assessed memory biases for threatening (but not happy) stimuli in preschoolers (n = 49), and if such relations cut across different forms of relational memory, i.e., memory for relations between two "items," between an "item" and its spatial location, and an "item" and its temporal sequence. In a subset (n = 18) we also examine links between caregiving, memory, and hippocampal subregion volume.

Results

Results indicate no main or interactive influence of gender on relational memory. However, insensitive caregiving predicted the difference between Angry and Happy memory during the Item-Space condition (B = 2.451, se = 0.969, p = 0.014, 95% CI (0.572, 4.340)], as well as memory for Angry (but not Happy) items [B = -2.203, se = 0.551, p < 0.001, 95% CI (-3.264,-1.094)]. Memory for the difference between Angry and Happy stimuli in the Space condition associated with larger right hippocampal body volumes (Rho = 0.639, p = 0.004). No relations were observed with internalizing problems.

Discussion

Results are discussed with reference to developmental stage and in consideration of whether negative biases may serve as an intermediate factor linking early life insensitive care and later socioemotional problems including an increased incidence of internalizing disorders.

Associations between pediatric asthma and age at menarche: evidence from the Indonesian Family Life Survey

OBJECTIVE

To examine the association between pediatric asthma and age at menarche, and to assess whether early life factors modify the association.

METHODS

This is a retrospective cross-sectional study using the Indonesian Family Life Survey Fifth Wave which had a total of 11 822 females aged 15-57 years to evaluate whether those with pediatric asthma were associated with earlier menarche, compared to females without asthma. We performed a weighted linear regression model adjusting for age, urbanicity, parental smoking, infectious disease history during childhood, childhood socioeconomic status, and health status during childhood. We also performed analyses by age at asthma diagnosis, interval length between asthma diagnosis and menarche, urbanicity, parental smoking, and infectious disease history during childhood.

RESULTS

In the adjusted model, females with pediatric asthma had an earlier average age at menarche by 5.2 months and those diagnosed with asthma at 5-8 years of age had the fastest acceleration by 14.9 months. The significant association persisted among those with 0-5 years interval between asthma diagnosis and menarche, who resided in urban areas, and those without infectious disease history during childhood.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings showed that females with pediatric asthma were associated with an earlier age at menarche, and some early life factors modified the association. Better asthma management with more targeted strategies at those at risk of earlier menarche may improve the reproductive and future health of children with asthma. Future studies to elucidate the mechanisms between pediatric asthma and age at menarche are warranted.

COVID-19 pandemic phases and female precocious puberty: The experience of the past 4 years (2019 through 2022) in an Italian tertiary center

OBJECTIVE

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, several centers of pediatric endocrinology worldwide have observed a significant increase in the number of girls presenting with precocious or early puberty. We aimed to compare the incidence rates of female precocious puberty before and during the different phases of COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

We have retrospectively analyzed all the consultations recorded in the outpatient clinic database of the Endocrinology Unit of Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy, from the lockdown start in March 2020 up to September 2020, in comparison with the consultations recorded in the same months of 2019, 2021 and 2022. Age, height, weight, body mass index, Tanner's pubertal stage and bone age at presentation, birth weight, ethnicity, family history of central precocious puberty (CPP), maternal age at menarche, history of adoption were retrieved from clinical records. Serum levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) both at baseline and after gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) stimulation, and basal estradiol levels were collected.

RESULTS

In 2019, 78 girls with suspected precocious puberty were referred for endocrinological consultation, compared to 202 girls in 2020, 158 girls in 2021 and 112 girls in 2022. A significant increase in the proportion of girls diagnosed with rapidly progressive CPP was observed in 2020, compared to 2019 (86/202 vs. 18/78, p<0.01). In the following periods of 2021 and 2022, a gradual decrease in the number of cases of progressive CPP was evident, so much that the number of cases was not significantly different from that observed in 2019 (56/158 in 2021 and 35/112 in 2022, p=0.054 and p=0.216 respectively, compared to 2019).

CONCLUSIONS

Our research suggests that drastic lifestyle changes, such as those imposed by COVID-19 lockdown, and the consequent stress may affect the regulation of pubertal timing. The remarkable increase in CPP cases observed during the 2020 first pandemic wave seems to be reduced in 2021 and 2022, concurrently with the progressive resumption of daily activities. These data seem to support the hypothesis of a direct relationship between profound life-style changes related to the pandemic and the rise in precocious puberty cases.

Facing the pandemic in the dark: Psychopathic personality traits and life history strategies during COVID-19 lockdown period in different areas of China

The current research aims to examine variation in psychopathic personality traits and life history strategies during COVID-19 lockdown period in different areas of China. In Study 1 (N = 564), participants completed explicit measures of psychopathic traits and of life history strategy. To attenuate common method biases, Study 2 (N = 267) employed an alternative measure of psychopathy and an indirect measure of life history strategy, namely, future-discounting. Across two studies, we found consistent and significant evidence that participants from Wuhan, the initial epicenter of the pandemic, evidenced a faster life history strategy and a markedly higher level of psychopathic traits than did participants from Chongqing, which was less affected by the virus. Furthermore, a consistent pattern of correlation between life history strategy and psychopathy was observed across different groups of participants. We also replicated some previously reported studies but found that not all sex effects were consistent with life history in Chinese populations. Taken together, these findings suggest that individuals may show a high degree of variation in life history speed and psychopathic traits in response to unpredictable and adverse environments, which provide support for extended life history plasticity.

Precocious puberty under stressful conditions: new understanding and insights from the lessons learnt from international adoptions and the COVID-19 pandemic

Neuro-biological variations in the timing of sexual maturation within a species are part of an evolved strategy that depend on internal and external environmental conditions. An increased incidence of central precocious puberty (CPP) has been described in both adopted and "covid-19 pandemic" children. Until recently, it was hypothesised that the triggers for CPP in internationally adopted children were likely to be better nutrition, greater environmental stability, and improved psychological wellbeing. However, following data collected during and after the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic, other possibilities must be considered. In a society with high levels of child wellbeing, the threat to life presented by an unknown and potentially serious disease and the stressful environment created by lockdowns and other public health measures could trigger earlier pubertal maturation as an evolutionary response to favour early reproduction. The main driver for increased rates of precocious and rapidly progressive puberty during the pandemic could have been the environment of "fear and stress" in schools and households. In many children, CPP may have been triggered by the psychological effects of living without normal social contact, using PPE, being near adults concerned about financial and other issues and the fear of getting ill. The features and time of progression of CPP in children during the pandemic are similar to those observed in adopted children. This review considers the mechanisms regulating puberty with a focus on neurobiological and evolutionary mechanisms, and analyses precocious puberty both during the pandemic and in internationally adopted children searching for common yet unconsidered factors in an attempt to identify the factors which may have acted as triggers. In particular, we focus on stress as a potential factor in the early activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and its correlation with rapid sexual maturation.

The relationship between childhood adversity and problem behavior of new street corner youth on campus: A moderate mediation model

To explore the impact mechanism of childhood adversity on problem behaviors of new street corner youth on campus, we surveyed 637 new street corner youth on campus and completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, the Childhood Environment Scale, the Life History Strategies Scale, and the Dark Triad Scale. After controlling for gender and age of new street corner youth on campus, results revealed that childhood adversity was significantly and positively associated with problem behaviors. Mediation analysis showed that life history strategy mediated the association between childhood adversity and problem behaviors. Moreover, moderated mediation analysis further indicated that dark triad moderated the association between childhood adversity and life history strategy, as well as the association between life history strategy and problem behaviors. These findings suggest that interventions of life history strategy and dark triad may be effective means to affect problem behaviors of new street corner youth on campus.

Developmental risk sensitivity theory: the effects of socio-economic status on children's risky gain and loss decisions

Evolutionary developmental theories propose that early environments shape human risk preferences. Developmental risk sensitivity theory (D-RST) focuses on the plasticity of risk preferences during childhood and makes predictions about the effect of reward size based on a child's social environment. By contrast, prospect theory predicts risk aversion for gains and risk seeking for losses regardless of environment or status. We presented 4 to 10-year-olds (n = 194) with a set of trials in which they chose between a certain amount and a chance to receive more or nothing. Two trials were equal expected value choices that differed by stake size and two were unequal expected value choices. Children either received gain trials or loss trials. Social environment was assessed using socio-economic status (SES) and subjective social status. Results confirmed the predictions of D-RST for gains based on SES. Children from lower-SES families differentiated between the high- and low-value trials and made more risky decisions for the high-value reward compared with higher-SES children. Children from higher-SES families were more risk averse for both trial types. Decisions for loss trials did not conform completely to either theory. We discuss the results in relation to evolutionary developmental theories.

To assess and compare the mental health of current-left-behind children, previous-left-behind children with never-left-behind children

The study's goal was to compare the mental health of children who are now left-behind (current-LBC) to children who have never been left-behind (never-LBC). Recruits were culled from rural Chinese schools. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (PACS) were used to examine participants' migratory status, mental health, and parent-child communication (PACS). A total of 2,000 current-, 500 previous-, and 300 never-LBCs in had complete data readily accessible for research and analysis. A number of mental health issues, such as emotional symptoms, conduct, and hyperactivity issues as well as overall challenges were considerably increased when all confounding factors were taken into account in the analysis. Our findings also showed a substantial link between children's overall issues and their inability to effectively communicate with parents. Children suffer long-term consequences as a result of their parents' frequent moves. The mental health of children is closely linked to the quality of communication between parents and children. Migrant parents' ability to comprehend and communicate with their children is critical to their children's development, according to the findings of this study.

Effects of parenting mode on student adaptability: the mediating effect of irrational beliefs

BACKGROUNDS

In the face of the new environment, different individuals have different reactions. Those who have good adaptability constantly establish individual self-efficacy through making friends and completing their studies, thus forming a good dependency with the university environment. However, individuals with poor ability to adapt to the new environment will have some bad phenomena, such as truancy, weariness and self denial. As a result, the students' adaptations of to the growth environment where in universities are the important topics in recent years.

METHODS

Present study introduces irrational beliefs to investigate the effects of parenting mode on maladaptation of university students. The questionnaires based on simplified parenting mode (Chinese), irrational belief and adaptability were administered in a survey of 510 university students in Zhanjiang on October, 2021, the list of students of Guangdong Ocean University is taken as the sampling frame and determined by random sampling. Parenting mode was used as the independent variable, while the emotionally warm, overprotective and rejecting types were used as the indices. Further, the irrational beliefs including summary comments, awful beliefs and low tolerance to setbacks as well as maladaptation were included in the mediation model for analysis.

RESULTS

The results showed that the rejection parenting mode was negatively related with absolute requirements (r = - 0.143), and learning motivation (r = - 0.157), interpersonal adaptation (r = - 0.283) and physical and psychological adjustment (r = - 0.083). Overprotection was negatively correlated with absolute requirements (r = - 0.042) and interpersonal adaptation (r = - 0.042). The mediating effect of irrational beliefs (low tolerance to setbacks, awful beliefs and absolute requirements), the lower and upper limits of Bootstrap confidence interval were 0.135 and 0.461, respectively, excluding 0, which indicated that the mediating effect is true.

CONCLUSION

Through the analysis of the data, this study believes that irrational beliefs such as low tolerance to setbacks, awful beliefs and absolute requirements mediate the effects on school adjustment. Negative parenting modes such as overprotection and rejection inculcate irrational beliefs, resulting in maladaptation of university students.

Childhood Environmental Unpredictability and Prosocial Behavior in Adults: The Effect of Life-History Strategy and Dark Personalities

Purpose

Childhood environments have an impact on an individuals’ behavior and cognition. We explored the relationship and possible mechanisms between childhood environmental unpredictability (CEU) and prosocial behavior (PSB) in adults.

Participants and Methods

We recruited Chinese college students (N = 1035) and adopted a questionnaire survey and structural equation modeling.

Results

The results showed that CEU negatively predicted PSB in adults. Life-history strategy and dark personality chains mediated this relationship. Higher CEU facilitated faster development of life-history strategies in individuals, and dark personalities, via fast life-history strategies, further influenced PSB in adults. The mediating pathways of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and sadism were significant, while psychopathy was not. Women were more prosocial than men, and there was no sex difference in the influence mechanism of CEU on PSB.

Conclusion

This study has practical significance as it emphasizes the importance of shaping a stable childhood environment and that individuals’ prosociality can be improved by intervening in the mediation.

A Double-Track Pathway to Fast Strategy in Humans and Its Personality Correlates

The fast-slow paradigm of life history (LH) focuses on how individuals grow, mate, and reproduce at different paces. This paradigm can contribute substantially to the field of personality and individual differences provided that it is more strictly based on evolutionary biology than it has been so far. Our study tested the existence of a fast-slow continuum underlying indicators of reproductive effort-offspring output, age at first reproduction, number and stability of sexual partners-in 1,043 outpatients with healthy to severely disordered personalities. Two axes emerged reflecting a double-track pathway to fast strategy, based on restricted and unrestricted sociosexual strategies. When rotated, the fast-slow and sociosexuality axes turned out to be independent. Contrary to expectations, neither somatic effort-investment in status, material resources, social capital, and maintenance/survival-was aligned with reproductive effort, nor a clear tradeoff between current and future reproduction was evident. Finally, we examined the association of LH axes with seven high-order personality pathology traits: negative emotionality, impulsivity, antagonism, persistence-compulsivity, subordination, and psychoticism. Persistent and disinhibited subjects appeared as fast-restricted and fast-unrestricted strategists, respectively, whereas asocial subjects were slow strategists. Associations of LH traits with each other and with personality are far more complex than usually assumed in evolutionary psychology.

The phenotype of recovery VI: The association between life-history strategies, delay discounting, and maladaptive health and financial behaviors among individuals in recovery from alcohol use disorders

BACKGROUND

The life-history theory is a well-established framework that predicts behaviors and explains how and why organisms allocate effort and resources to different life goals. Delay discounting (DD) is associated with risky behaviors and has been suggested as a candidate behavioral marker of addiction. Thus, we investigated the relationship between DD, life-history strategies, and engagement in risky behaviors among individuals in recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD).

METHODS

Data from 110 individuals in recovery from addiction from The International Quit & Recovery Registry, an ongoing online registry designed to understand recovery phenotype, were included in the analysis. The association between life-history strategies, DD, engagement in risky behaviors, and remission status were assessed.

RESULTS

Life-history strategy scores were significantly associated with DD rates and finance, health, and personal development behaviors after controlling for age, sex, race, ethnicity, years of education, marital status, smoking status, and history of other substance use. Remission status was significantly associated with life-history strategy, DD, drug use, fitness, health, and safe driving after controlling for age, sex, race, years of education, marital status, and smoking status. In addition, a mediation analysis using Hayes' methods revealed that the discounting rates partially mediated the association between remission status and life-history strategy scores.

CONCLUSIONS

Life-history strategies and remission status are both significantly associated with DD and various health and finance behaviors among individuals in recovery from AUD. This finding supports the characterizations of DD as a candidate behavioral marker of addiction that could help differentiate subgroups needing special attention or specific interventions to improve the outcomes of their recovery. Future longitudinal studies are warranted to understand the relationships between changes in life-history strategies, DD, maladaptive health behaviors, and remission status over time.

Individuals with adverse childhood experiences explore less and underweight reward feedback

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are extreme stressors that lead to negative psychosocial outcomes in adulthood. Nonhuman animals explore less after exposure to early stress. Therefore, in this preregistered study, we hypothesized that reduced exploration following ACEs would also be evident in human adults. Further, we predicted that adults with ACEs, in a foraging task, would adopt a decision-making policy that relies on the most-recent reward feedback, a rational strategy for unstable environments. We analyzed data from 145 adult participants, 47 with four or more ACEs and 98 with fewer than four ACEs. In the foraging task, participants evaluated the trade-off between exploiting a known patch with diminishing rewards and exploring a novel one with a fresh distribution of rewards. Using computational modeling, we quantified the degree to which participants' decisions weighted recent feedback. As predicted, participants with ACEs explored less. However, contrary to our hypothesis, they underweighted recent feedback. These unexpected findings indicate that early adversity may dampen reward sensitivity. Our results may help to identify cognitive mechanisms that link childhood trauma to the onset of psychopathology.

Rhesus macaques compensate for reproductive delay following ecological adversity early in life

Adversity early in life can shape the reproductive potential of individuals through negative effects on health and life span. However, long-lived populations with multiple reproductive events may present alternative life history strategies to optimize reproductive schedules and compensate for shorter life spans. Here, we quantify the effects of major hurricanes and density dependence as sources of early-life ecological adversity on Cayo Santiago rhesus macaque female reproduction and decompose their effects onto the mean age-specific fertility, reproductive pace, and lifetime reproductive success (LRS). Females experiencing major hurricanes exhibit a delayed reproductive debut but maintain the pace of reproduction past debut and show a higher mean fertility during prime reproductive ages, relative to unaffected females. Increasing density at birth is associated to a decrease in mean fertility and reproductive pace, but such association is absent at intermediate densities. When combined, our study reveals that hurricanes early in life predict a delay-overshoot pattern in mean age-specific fertility that supports the maintenance of LRS. In contrast to predictive adaptive response models of accelerated reproduction, this long-lived population presents a novel reproductive strategy where females who experience major natural disasters early in life ultimately overcome their initial reproductive penalty with no major negative fitness outcomes. Density presents a more complex relation with reproduction that suggests females experiencing a population regulated at intermediate densities early in life will escape density dependence and show optimized reproductive schedules. Our results support hypotheses about life history trade-offs in which adversity-affected females ensure their future reproductive potential by allocating more energy to growth or maintenance processes at younger adult ages.

The impact of COVID-19 on consumer evaluation of authentic advertising messages

This study investigates the relationship between the COVID-19 threat and consumer evaluation of a product with authenticity appeals in advertisements. We propose that threatening situations like COVID-19 motivate consumers to lower their uncertainty and increase their preference for products with authentic advertising messages. Because individuals react differently to threatening environments according to their early-life experiences, commonly reflected in childhood socioeconomic status, we examined whether childhood socioeconomic status moderates the relationship between threat and consumer evaluation of authenticity in advertisements. First, secondary data from Google Trends provided empirical support for our predictions. In additional experimental studies, participants evaluated different target products in four studies that either manipulated (Studies 2 and 3) or measured (Studies 4 and 5) COVID-19 threat. Our results provide converging evidence that consumers positively evaluate products with authentic advertising messages under the COVID-19 threat. Consumers' motivation to lower their uncertainty underlies the effect of COVID-19 threat on their evaluation of authentic messages (Study 3). This attempt to reduce uncertainty is more likely to occur for consumers with relatively higher childhood socioeconomic status (Studies 4 and 5). These findings suggest that using authenticity appeals during a pandemic could effectively reduce consumers' perceived uncertainty and generate positive consumer evaluations.

Associations Between Childhood Stressors, COVID-19-Related Anxiety, and Sleep Quality of Adults During the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel

PURPOSE

Studies point to a persistent effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on sleep quality and mental health, including anxiety. Exposure to stressors during childhood increases the susceptibility to anxiety in later life. Given the negative effects of anxiety on sleep quality, the present study aimed to examine the associations between various childhood stressors and poor sleep quality of adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether these associations are mediated by COVID-19-related anxiety.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

A total of 586 participants aged 18-40 (mean age 27.53± 6.48 years, 301 females) were recruited to take part in an online survey conducted in Israel between February 7 and 15, 2021, during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed questionnaires assessing retrospectively adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), childhood harshness (indexed separately by exposure to morbidity and mortality and low socioeconomic status, SES), and childhood unpredictability. COVID-19-related anxiety was assessed using two items. Sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and insomnia symptoms with the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). Participants were asked to complete the ISI concerning two time points: (a) retrospectively, before the COVID-19 outbreak, and (b) currently, during the pandemic.

RESULTS

Path analysis indicated that poor sleep quality (PSQI) was directly and indirectly (through COVID-19-related anxiety) predicted by the number of ACEs and childhood morbidity-mortality exposure, directly predicted by childhood low SES, and indirectly predicted by childhood unpredictability. Insomnia symptoms increase (ISI) was indirectly predicted by the number of ACEs, childhood morbidity-mortality exposure, and childhood unpredictability.

CONCLUSION

ACEs as well as harsh and unpredictable childhood environments are predictive of poorer sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19-related anxiety mediates the effects of childhood stressors (other than low SES) on sleep. These findings may have clinical implications relevant to stressful periods in general.

Change of pace: How developmental tempo varies to accommodate failed provision of early needs

The interplay of genes and environments (GxE) is a fundamental source of variation in behavioral and developmental outcomes. Although the role of developmental time (T) in the unfolding of such interactions has yet to be fully considered, GxE operates within a temporal frame of reference across multiple timescales and degrees of biological complexity. Here, we consider GxExT interactions to understand adversity-induced developmental acceleration or deceleration whereby environmental conditions hasten or hinder children's development. To date, developmental pace changes have been largely explained through a focus on the individual: for example, how adversity "wears down" aging biological systems or how adversity accelerates or decelerates maturation to optimize reproductive fitness. We broaden such theories by positing shifts in developmental pace in response to the parent-child dyad's capacity or incapacity for meeting children's early, physiological and safety needs. We describe empirical evidence and potential neurobiological mechanisms supporting this new conceptualization of developmental acceleration and deceleration. We conclude with suggestions for future research on the developmental consequences of early adverse exposures.

Infertility and same-sex attraction in women

A polygyny hypothesis of female sexual fluidity proposes that women may have been evolutionarily selected to be sexually fluid, in order to have occasional sex with their cowives in polygynous marriage to reduce tension and conflict inherent in such marriage, while at the same time reproducing children with their husbands. Among others, the hypothesis predicts that women who are biologically (but not surgically) infertile would experience greater same-sex attraction. Biological infertility stems from natural, evolutionarily familiar causes such as menopause, whereas surgical infertility stems from artificial, evolutionarily novel causes such as tubal ligation or hysterectomy. Consistent with the prediction, the analyses of the National Survey of Family Growth data showed that biological infertility, but not surgical infertility, was significantly associated with same-sex self-identified labels, behavior and sexual attraction in women. Biological infertility nearly doubled the odds of women having engaged in same-sex behavior and the number of same-sex partners in the last 12 months and nearly tripled the number of same-sex partners in life. In sharp contrast, biological infertility was not associated (and surgical infertility was significantly negatively associated) with same-sex attraction in men.

The Onset of Menstruation and Social Networking Site Use in Adolescent Girls: The Mediating Role of Body Mass Index

Evidence suggests that girls spend much time on social networking sites (SNS), often more than boys do. It has been proposed that this may have to do with sex-based differences in the need and approaches for socialization. We posit that adolescent girls are also unique in that they are developing physiologically and start menstruating. Based on prior research, we hypothesize that the onset of menstruation can drive physiological changes (increased body mass index (BMI)), which together with common behavioral-psychological (social and emotional) responses to menstruation can contribute to an increase in SNS use. We therefore aim to test whether BMI partially mediates the relationship between menstruation and SNS use in adolescent girls. Results based on a large nationally representative sample in the United Kingdom suggest that the age of menarche was negatively associated with daily hours of SNS use, and that BMI elevation partially mediated this association. These results extend the negative effects of the early onset of menstruation and imply that BMI control strategies may help to reduce the use of SNS in girls who experience menarche at an earlier age.

A Lifespan Development Theory of Insecure Attachment and Internalizing Symptoms: Integrating Meta-Analytic Evidence via a Testable Evolutionary Mis/Match Hypothesis

Attachment scholars have long argued that insecure attachment patterns are associated with vulnerability to internalizing symptoms, such as depression and anxiety symptoms. However, accumulating evidence from the past four decades, summarized in four large meta-analyses evaluating the link between insecure attachment subtypes and internalizing symptoms, provide divergent evidence for this claim. This divergent evidence may be accounted for, at least in part, by the developmental period under examination. Specifically, children with histories of deactivating (i.e., insecure/avoidant) but not hyperactivating (i.e., insecure/resistant) attachment patterns in infancy and early childhood showed elevated internalizing symptoms. In contrast, adolescents and adults with hyperactivating (i.e., insecure/preoccupied) but not deactivating (i.e., insecure/dismissing) attachment classifications showed elevated internalizing symptoms. In this paper, we summarize findings from four large meta-analyses and highlight the divergent meta-analytic findings that emerge across different developmental periods. We first present several potential methodological issues that may have contributed to these divergent findings. Then, we leverage clinical, developmental, and evolutionary perspectives to propose a testable lifespan development theory of attachment and internalizing symptoms that integrates findings across meta-analyses. According to this theory, subtypes of insecure attachment patterns may be differentially linked to internalizing symptoms depending on their mis/match with the developmentally appropriate orientation tendency toward caregivers (in childhood) or away from them (i.e., toward greater independence in post-childhood). Lastly, we offer future research directions to test this theory.

Borderline Personality Disorder in a "Life History Theory" Perspective: Evidence for a Fast "Pace-of-Life-Syndrome"

"Borderline Personality Disorder" (BPD) is associated with heightened risk for cardiovascular disease and other stress-associated somatic consequences, which is poorly understood in terms of causal mechanisms, such as childhood trauma. Here, we tested the hypothesis suggesting that BPD reflects a fast "Pace-of-Life-Syndrome" (PoLS). Ninety-five women (44 diagnosed with BPD) were recruited to examine psychological correlates of PoLS, including life history features, personality dimensions, aggressiveness, chronic stress, borderline symptom severity, childhood trauma, and allostatic load (AL). In line with expectations, BPD patients had significantly higher scores suggestive of a fast PoLS than controls, they were more aggressive, more burdened with chronic stress and were exposed to more severe childhood adversity. Childhood trauma predicted PoLS, which in turn predicted AL. The present study thus provides direct evidence of psychological and somatic traits associated with the fast end of the PoLS spectrum in females with BPD. Findings are discussed with regard to clinical implications.

Relatedness Need Satisfaction and the Dark Triad: The Role of Depression and Prevention Focus

Dark triad traits are often associated with maladaptive social and interpersonal interactions, such as dishonesty and self-centeredness; thus, it is important to explore predictors of the dark triad in order to better facilitate the reduction of such behaviors. The present study adopted a self-report approach with a total of 5,207 Chinese undergraduate students participated in the study. We found that relatedness need dissatisfaction significantly predicted the presence of dark personalities, which was mediated by prevention focus. Conditional process model analysis found that this mediating effect was stronger when depression levels were lower. Final study results contributed to further understanding predictors of the dark triad. Study limitations and future research directions were also examined.

Associations of Father and Adult Male Presence with First Pregnancy and HIV Infection: Longitudinal Evidence from Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Rural South Africa (HPTN 068)

This study, a secondary analysis of the HPTN 068 randomized control trial, aimed to quantify the association of father and male presence with HIV incidence and first pregnancy among 2533 school-going adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in rural South Africa participating in the trial between March 2011 and April 2017. Participants' ages ranged from 13-20 years at study enrollment and 17-25 at the post-intervention visit. HIV and pregnancy incidence rates were calculated for each level of the exposure variables using Poisson regression, adjusted for age using restricted quadratic spline variables, and, in the case of pregnancy, also adjusted for whether the household received a social grant. Our study found that AGYW whose fathers were deceased and adult males were absent from the household were most at risk for incidence of first pregnancy and HIV (pregnancy: aIRR = 1.30, Wald 95% CI 1.05, 1.61, Wald chi-square p = 0.016; HIV: aIRR = 1.27, Wald 95% CI 0.84, 1.91, Wald chi-square p = 0.263) as compared to AGYW whose biological fathers resided with them. For AGYW whose fathers were deceased, having other adult males present as household members seemed to attenuate the incidence (pregnancy: aIRR = 0.92, Wald 95% CI 0.74, 1.15, Wald chi-square p = 0.462; HIV: aIRR = 0.90, Wald 95% CI 0.58, 1.39, Wald chi-square p = 0.623) such that it was similar, and therefore not statistically significantly different, to AGYW whose fathers were present in the household.

Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Menarche: A Prospective Study

PURPOSE

The relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and menarche has implications for understanding social level influences on early life development and adult disease, including breast cancer, but remains ill defined. We report here results from the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program, which permitted a longitudinal study of age at menarche in relationship to childhood SES in a diverse cohort of 1,069 girls across three urban areas of the United States.

METHODS

We assessed the association of SES index quintiles with age at pubertal onset with breast budding and subsequent tempo to the age at menarche between 2004 and 2015 using multiple-event Cox regression models to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals.

RESULTS

In an unadjusted model, lower SES was predictive of both earlier pubertal onset and tempo and thus earlier age at menarche in trends across quintiles. After adjusting for the potentially mediating effects of body mass index, SES trends remained significant for both outcomes. After adjusting for both body mass index and race/ethnicity, the association with SES remained substantial for pubertal onset but was much diminished and nonsignificant for tempo and thus age at menarche.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that a lower SES environment and social adversity affect the age at menarche primarily by hastening pubertal onset rather than by shortening tempo.

Targeting Parenting Quality to Reduce Early Life Adversity Impacts on Lifespan Cardiometabolic Risk

Mounting evidence that early life adversity (ELA) exposures confer risk for cardiometabolic disease over the lifespan motivated this narrative review to examine parenting quality as a potential intervention target to reduce ELA exposures or mitigate their impact as a way of reducing or preventing cardiometabolic disease. We describe findings from the limited number of family-based intervention studies in ELA-exposed children that have tested parenting impacts on cardiometabolic health outcomes. We then describe the implications of this work and make recommendations for future research that will move this field forward.

Advancing the Psychometric Study of Human Life History Indicators : K Does Not Measure Life History Speed, but Theory and Evidence Suggest It Deserves Further Attention

In this article we attend to recent critiques of psychometric applications of life history (LH) theory to variance among humans and develop theory to advance the study of latent LH constructs. We then reanalyze data (n = 4,244) previously examined by Richardson et al. (Evolutionary Psychology, 15(1), 2017, https://doi.org/10.1177/1474704916666840 to determine whether (a) previously reported evidence of multidimensionality is robust to the modeling approach employed and (b) the structure of LH indicators is invariant by sex. Findings provide further evidence that a single LH dimension is implausible and that researchers should cease interpreting K-factor scores as empirical proxies for LH speed. In contrast to the original study, we detected a small inverse correlation between mating competition and Super-K that is consistent with a trade-off. Tests of measurement invariance across the sexes revealed evidence of metric invariance (i.e., equivalence of factor loadings), consistent with the theory that K is a proximate cause of its indicators; however, evidence of partial scalar invariance suggests use of scores likely introduces bias when the sexes are compared. We discuss limitations and identify approaches that researchers may use to further evaluate the validity of the K-factor and other applications of LH to human variation.

Faster life history strategy manifests itself by lower age at menarche, higher sexual desire, and earlier reproduction in people with worse health

Factors which indicate lower life expectancy also induce switching to a faster life strategy, that is, a higher investment in current reproduction at the expense of future reproduction and body maintenance. We tested a hypothesis according to which impairment of individual health serves as a signal for switching to a faster life strategy using online-gathered data from 32,911 subjects. Worse health was associated with lower age at menarche and earlier initiation of sexual life in women and higher sexual desire and earlier reproduction in both sexes. Individuals with worse health also exhibited lower sexual activity, lower number of sexual partners, and lower total number of children. These results suggest that impaired health shifts individuals towards a faster life strategy but also has a negative (physiological) effect on behaviours related to sexual life. Signs of a faster life strategy were also found in Rh-negative men in good health, indicating that even just genetic predisposition to worse health could serve as a signal for switching to a faster life strategy. We suggest that improved public health in developed countries and the resulting shift to a slower life strategy could be the ultimate cause of the phenomenon of demographic transition.

Pubertal Timing and Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Mediating Role of Parental and Peer Influences

Using intergenerational, prospective data at ages 9 months, 7, 11, and 14 years from the nationally representative United Kingdom Millennium Cohort Study, this interdisciplinary study unpacks why 14-year-old adolescents with early perceived pubertal timing (PT) were more likely to drink alcohol (ever, frequent, and binge drinking) compared to those whose PT was on-time or late (5,757 girls, 5,799 boys; 80% White, 10% Asian, 3% Black, and 7% Other British). Parents allowed drinking among 22% (18%) of early PT girls (boys) compared to 11% of late PT adolescents; formal mediation models showed differences by PT in parent permissiveness and gains in alcohol-using friends primarily explained age 14 PT-drinking associations. Parental alcohol permissiveness should be a key prevention target for early PT adolescents.

Family Experiences and Parent Personality as Antecedents of Pubertal Timing in Girls and Boys

Pubertal timing may be influenced by typical variations in early family environmental events, but questions remain concerning the roles of specific parenting factors, developmental age of exposure to events, moderation by child temperament, and comparability of effects for girls and boys. This study focused on these questions utilizing longitudinal data from 733 same-sex twins (45% girls) in the U.S.; family context was measured at ages 1-3, 4-5, and 6-7 years and pubertal status was assessed annually via self-report at ages 9-15, enabling estimates of pubertal timing. Home environment at ages 4-5 years predicted pubertal timing better than home environment at other ages for both girls and boys, but parent personality was more predictive than home experiences (e.g., divorce, parental harshness, family conflict). Thus, effects of family environment must be considered within the context of parent characteristics, encouraging caution in implicating early environmental experiences as direct influences on early pubertal timing.

Prepubertal Internalizing Symptoms and Timing of Puberty Onset in Girls

Stressful environments have been associated with earlier menarche. We hypothesized that anxiety, and possibly other internalizing symptoms, are also associated with earlier puberty in girls. The Lessons in Epidemiology and Genetics of Adult Cancer From Youth (LEGACY) Girls Study (2011-2016) included 1,040 girls aged 6-13 years at recruitment whose growth and development were assessed every 6 months. Prepubertal maternal reports of daughter's internalizing symptoms were available for breast onset (n = 447), pubic hair onset (n = 456), and menarche (n = 681). Using Cox proportional hazard regression, we estimated prospective hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the relationship between 1 standard deviation of the percentiles of prepubertal anxiety, depression, and somatization symptoms and the timing of each pubertal outcome. Multivariable models included age, race/ethnicity, study center, maternal education, body mass index percentile, and family history of breast cancer. Additional models included maternal self-reported anxiety. A 1-standard deviation increase in maternally reported anxiety in girls at baseline was associated with earlier subsequent onset of breast (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.22, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09, 1.36) and pubic hair (HR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.30) development, but not menarche (HR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.83, 1.07). The association of anxiety with earlier breast development persisted after adjustment for maternal anxiety. Increased anxiety in young girls may indicate risk for earlier pubertal onset.

Early life adversity, pubertal timing, and epigenetic age acceleration in adulthood

BACKGROUND

Given associations linking early life adversity, pubertal timing, and biological aging, we examined the direct and indirect effects of early life trauma on adult biological aging (via age of menarche).

METHODS

Participants were premenopausal women (N = 183). Path models evaluated whether early life trauma predicted early pubertal timing and thereby, adult epigenetic age acceleration (indexed via four epigenetic clocks: Horvath DNAm Age, Hannum DNAm Age, DNAm PhenoAge, and DNAm GrimAge). Secondary analyses explored the effects of type of trauma (abuse and neglect) and adult chronic stress status (caregiver of child with autism and non-caregiver).

RESULTS

Early life trauma and earlier age at menarche independently predicted accelerated aging based on one of the four epigenetic clocks, DNAm GrimAge, though early life trauma was not associated with age of menarche. Childhood abuse, but not neglect, predicted faster epigenetic aging; results did not differ by chronic stress status.

CONCLUSIONS

Early trauma and early menarche appear to exert independent effects on DNAm GrimAge, which has been shown to be the strongest epigenetic predictor of mortality risk. This study identifies a potential correlate or determinant of accelerated epigenetic aging-menarcheal age. Future research should address the limitations of this study by using racially diverse samples.

Father Absence in Pregnancy or During Childhood and Pubertal Development in Girls and Boys: A Population-Based Cohort Study

This cohort study, including 15,810 children born 2000-2003 in Denmark, aimed to investigate the association between father absence in pregnancy or during childhood and pubertal development in girls and boys. The children were followed from 11 years of age and throughout pubertal development. Mean age differences according to exposure groups were estimated for each pubertal marker separately and for a combined pubertal marker. The results suggested that father absence in pregnancy and during childhood was associated with earlier pubertal development in girls, and father absence from late childhood was associated with earlier pubertal development in boys. The paternal investment theory, the psychosocial acceleration theory and the energetics theory were explored, and did not seem to explain the observed associations.

Adolescent Sexual Development and Peer Groups: Reciprocal Associations and Shared Genetic and Environmental Influences

Peer groups influence the emergence of sexual behaviors in adolescence, but many details regarding the mechanisms underlying these effects have yet to be described. We examined the phenotypic, genetic, and environmental links between both antisocial and prosocial peer characteristics, and several sexual behaviors from middle childhood to late adolescence (ages 11, 14, and 17 years) using a longitudinal twin sample (N = 3762). Antisocial peers predicted greater engagement in both normative (e.g., dating) and non-normative (e.g., early sexual intercourse) sexual behaviors, while prosocial peers were associated with a lower likelihood of engaging in non-normative sexual behaviors. Reciprocal effects were also observed such that early sexual experiences were associated with a more antisocial and less prosocial peer groups later in adolescence. Behavioral genetic models indicated that most of the overlap between peer group characteristics and sexual behavior was due to shared environmental influences. That is, some features of the adolescent environment exert a press toward (or against) antisocial peers and sexual behaviors. Together, the results extend the existing literature by highlighting the ways through which peer affiliations are related to sexual development in adolescence.