Social withdrawal and testosterone levels in early adolescent boys

Noriyuki Hayashi; Shuntaro Ando; Seiichiro Jinde; Shinya Fujikawa; Naohiro Okada; Rie Toriyama; Mio Masaoka; Hiroshi Sugiyama; Toru Shirakawa; Tomoko Yagi; Masaya Morita; Ryo Morishima; Tomoki Kiyono; Syudo Yamasaki; Atsushi Nishida; Kiyoto Kasai

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104596

Social withdrawal and testosterone levels in early adolescent boys

Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2020 Jun:116:104596. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104596. Epub 2020 Feb 13.

Authors

Noriyuki Hayashi¹, Shuntaro Ando², Seiichiro Jinde³, Shinya Fujikawa⁴, Naohiro Okada⁵, Rie Toriyama⁶, Mio Masaoka⁷, Hiroshi Sugiyama⁸, Toru Shirakawa⁹, Tomoko Yagi¹⁰, Masaya Morita¹¹, Ryo Morishima¹², Tomoki Kiyono¹³, Syudo Yamasaki¹⁴, Atsushi Nishida¹⁵, Kiyoto Kasai¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. Electronic address: noriyuki-hayashi@umin.ac.jp.
² Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, 2-1-6 Kamikitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 156-8506, Japan. Electronic address: sandou-tky@umin.ac.jp.
³ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. Electronic address: jind-tky@umin.ac.jp.
⁴ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. Electronic address: fujikawa-s@umin.ac.jp.
⁵ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan; International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study (UTIAS), The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. Electronic address: nokada-tky@umin.ac.jp.
⁶ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. Electronic address: rietoriyama@gmail.com.
⁷ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. Electronic address: maaasaoka@gmail.com.
⁸ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan; Department of Integrated Educational Sciences, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. Electronic address: sora_sh@p.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
⁹ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. Electronic address: toru.shirakawa.0@gmail.com.
¹⁰ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. Electronic address: tomoko-yagi@umin.ac.jp.
¹¹ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. Electronic address: mmorita-smr@umin.ac.jp.
¹² Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. Electronic address: morishimar-tky@umin.ac.jp.
¹³ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. Electronic address: tkiyono-tky@umin.ac.jp.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, 2-1-6 Kamikitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 156-8506, Japan. Electronic address: yamasaki-sd@igakuken.or.jp.
¹⁵ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, 2-1-6 Kamikitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 156-8506, Japan. Electronic address: nishida-at@igakuken.or.jp.
¹⁶ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan; International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study (UTIAS), The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. Electronic address: kasaik-tky@umin.net.

PMID: 32276240
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104596

Abstract

Social withdrawal may lead to mental health problems and can have a large impact on a life course, particularly among boys. To support adolescents with social withdrawal, an integrative understanding of the biological bases would be helpful. Social dominance, a possible opposite of social withdrawal, is known to have positive associations with testosterone levels. A previous study suggested that social withdrawal has a negative relationship with sexual maturity among adolescent boys. However, the relationship between social withdrawal and testosterone in adolescence is unknown. This study aimed to examine whether social withdrawal was negatively associated with testosterone levels in early adolescent boys. Salivary samples were collected from 159 healthy early adolescent boys (mean age [standard deviation]: 11.5 [0.73]) selected from participants of the "population-neuroscience study of the Tokyo Teen Cohort" (pn-TTC). Social withdrawal and confounding factors, such as the secondary sexual characteristics and their age in months, were evaluated by self-administered questionnaires completed by the primary parents. The degree of social withdrawal was assessed with the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). Levels of salivary testosterone, and cortisol as a control, were measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Logistic regression was conducted to examine the association between social withdrawal and testosterone levels. A higher risk of social withdrawal was associated with a lower salivary testosterone level after adjustment for age in months (odds ratio 0.55, 95 % confidence interval 0.33-0.94), and the association remained significant after adjusting for body mass index, the degree of anxiety/depression and pubertal stage. Thus, we found a negative relationship between social withdrawal and testosterone levels in early adolescent boys. These findings may help to clarify the biological foundations of and to develop support for social withdrawal.

Keywords: LC–MS/MS; Puberty; Social withdrawal; Testosterone; The population-neuroscience study of the Tokyo Teen Cohort.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior / physiology*
Child
Child Behavior / physiology*
Chromatography, Liquid
Cohort Studies
Humans
Hydrocortisone / metabolism
Male
Puberty / metabolism
Puberty / physiology*
Saliva / metabolism
Social Behavior*
Tandem Mass Spectrometry
Testosterone / metabolism*

Substances

Testosterone
Hydrocortisone