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Pubertal Timing, Positive Contexts, and Emotional Symptoms in Early Adolescence: Examining Sex Differences With a Dual Grade Cohort Design.

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Title: Pubertal Timing, Positive Contexts, and Emotional Symptoms in Early Adolescence: Examining Sex Differences With a Dual Grade Cohort Design.
Authors: Bu, Luowei1, Ye, Haoxian1, Wang, Dongfang1 wdfpsyc@126.com, Liu, Wenxu1, Fan, Fang1
Source: Journal of Youth & Adolescence. Aug2025, Vol. 54 Issue 8, p2120-2141. 22p.
Subject Terms: *Adolescent development, *Families, *Affective disorders, *Teachers, *Adolescence, Precocious puberty, Puberty, Research funding, Alexithymia, Sex distribution, Affinity groups, Social support, Time, Disease risk factors
Geographic Terms: China
Abstract: Earlier puberty predicts emotional symptoms during adolescence, with potential sex disparities in how developmental contexts moderate this relationship. Under the differential susceptibility framework, negative contextual amplifiers are well-documented, but positive contextual attenuators remain under-researched. Acknowledging girls' earlier pubertal onset, this study employed a dual grade cohort design (5th- and 7th-grade cohorts) to examine sex-specific positive contextual moderators (family members, general peers, teachers) in the longitudinal association between pubertal timing and emotional symptoms. This approach enabled sex comparisons at similar chronological ages (controlling for social timing) and at comparable pubertal stages (accounting for measurement timing). Multiple grade cohorts from a three-wave survey in China were analyzed, including six-month (5th: N = 10,544, 46.6% girls; 6th: N = 5991, 47.6% girls; 7th: N = 7028, 47.4% girls; 8th: N = 4832, 48.2% girls) and one-year (5th: N = 14,580, 45.8% girls; 6th: N = 11,845, 46.6% girls; 7th: N = 10,347, 47.6% girls) nested samples. Through within-grade and cross-grade comparisons, linear mixed-effects models tested each pubertal timing × positive context × sex interaction in predicting future emotional symptoms, adjusting for school-level clustering, socio-demographics, and baseline emotional symptoms. Results identified earlier puberty as a risk for both sexes. Results revealed schoolwide teacher-student relations as a positive contextual moderator only for 5th-grade girls, with no other significant contextual moderators observed for either sex. These findings underscore the importance of improving school-level teacher-student interactions to mitigate the emotional challenges faced by early-maturing girls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Youth & Adolescence is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Pubertal Timing, Positive Contexts, and Emotional Symptoms in Early Adolescence: Examining Sex Differences With a Dual Grade Cohort Design.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Youth+%26+Adolescence%22">Journal of Youth & Adolescence</searchLink>. Aug2025, Vol. 54 Issue 8, p2120-2141. 22p.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22China%22">China</searchLink>
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  Data: Earlier puberty predicts emotional symptoms during adolescence, with potential sex disparities in how developmental contexts moderate this relationship. Under the differential susceptibility framework, negative contextual amplifiers are well-documented, but positive contextual attenuators remain under-researched. Acknowledging girls' earlier pubertal onset, this study employed a dual grade cohort design (5th- and 7th-grade cohorts) to examine sex-specific positive contextual moderators (family members, general peers, teachers) in the longitudinal association between pubertal timing and emotional symptoms. This approach enabled sex comparisons at similar chronological ages (controlling for social timing) and at comparable pubertal stages (accounting for measurement timing). Multiple grade cohorts from a three-wave survey in China were analyzed, including six-month (5th: N = 10,544, 46.6% girls; 6th: N = 5991, 47.6% girls; 7th: N = 7028, 47.4% girls; 8th: N = 4832, 48.2% girls) and one-year (5th: N = 14,580, 45.8% girls; 6th: N = 11,845, 46.6% girls; 7th: N = 10,347, 47.6% girls) nested samples. Through within-grade and cross-grade comparisons, linear mixed-effects models tested each pubertal timing × positive context × sex interaction in predicting future emotional symptoms, adjusting for school-level clustering, socio-demographics, and baseline emotional symptoms. Results identified earlier puberty as a risk for both sexes. Results revealed schoolwide teacher-student relations as a positive contextual moderator only for 5th-grade girls, with no other significant contextual moderators observed for either sex. These findings underscore the importance of improving school-level teacher-student interactions to mitigate the emotional challenges faced by early-maturing girls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Youth & Adolescence is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1007/s10964-025-02185-w
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 22
        StartPage: 2120
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Adolescent development
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Families
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Affective disorders
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Teachers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Adolescence
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Precocious puberty
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Puberty
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Research funding
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      – SubjectFull: Alexithymia
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      – SubjectFull: Sex distribution
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      – SubjectFull: Affinity groups
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      – SubjectFull: Social support
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      – SubjectFull: Time
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      – SubjectFull: Disease risk factors
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      – SubjectFull: China
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Pubertal Timing, Positive Contexts, and Emotional Symptoms in Early Adolescence: Examining Sex Differences With a Dual Grade Cohort Design.
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              M: 08
              Text: Aug2025
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