The Impact of Time Since Menarche for Depressive and Anxiety Symptom Severity in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Zhenyu Z Zhang; Melissa K Peckins; Sarah J Beal; David J Schnabel Jr; Chad E Shenk; Lorah D Dorn

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.03.010

The Impact of Time Since Menarche for Depressive and Anxiety Symptom Severity in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

J Adolesc Health. 2024 May 12:S1054-139X(24)00166-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.03.010. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Zhenyu Z Zhang¹, Melissa K Peckins², Sarah J Beal³, David J Schnabel Jr⁴, Chad E Shenk⁵, Lorah D Dorn⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania.
² Department of Psychology, St. John's University, Queens, New York.
³ Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio; Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio.
⁴ Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania.
⁵ Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania; The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania.
⁶ Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: dun@psu.edu.

PMID: 38739057
DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.03.010

Abstract

Purpose: The study mapped depressive and anxiety symptom trajectories throughout adolescence and early adulthood, arrayed by time since menarche, a novel indicator of pubertal change and examined the effect of age of menarche and pubertal timing, more frequently used variables, on depressive and anxiety symptom severity trajectories.

Methods: Secondary analysis of a cross-sequential prospective longitudinal investigation included a community sample of 262 US, adolescent females. Participants were enrolled in age cohorts of 11, 13, 15, and 17 years. Four annual waves of data were collected. Self-report of age at menarche was categorized into pubertal timing categories. A novel measure "time since menarche" (chronological age at each wave minus age at menarche), was measured along with depressive and anxiety symptom severity. Two-piece growth curve modeling with landmark registration examined depressive and anxiety symptom severity trajectories according to time since menarche.

Results: There was no change (p > .05) in depression and anxiety symptom severity before menarche; however, in the years leading away from menarche, depression and anxiety symptom severity decreased (p < .05). Age at menarche was not associated with change in depressive and anxiety symptom severity (p > .05) and there were no moderating effects of pubertal timing.

Discussion: Depressive and anxiety symptoms decrease in the years leading away from menarche, suggesting puberty-related psychopathology may be transitory in some individuals. Time since menarche may be a clinically relevant indicator of psychological functioning in pubescent adolescent females. Future studies should examine this variable in larger samples, including more adolescents in the earlier stages of puberty.

Keywords: Adolescent; Anxiety; Depression; Puberty; Time since menarche.