The role of adverse experiences and puberty in shaping sex-specific brain structural and functional development in adolescents

Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre 

Adolescence is a period of marked brain development, with sex differences in brain developmental trajectories thought to be influenced in part by sex-specific pubertal processes. Increased neural plasticity during this time is thought to contribute to the adolescent brain being particularly susceptible to effects of the social environment, in ways that differ based on sex and pubertal stage. In this talk, I will present research that investigates the complex role of pubertal stage, pubertal hormones, and the social environment in shaping sex-specific patterns of brain structure and function in large samples (Ns>3000) of adolescents (aged 9-14 years) from the US-based Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. I will highlight two specific studies. First, I will present a longitudinal study investigating whether pubertal stage (i.e., Tanner stage) moderates the impact of adverse experiences on emotional brain function in males and females. Findings suggest that certain Tanner stages are associated with increased sensitivity to the effects of adverse experiences on emotional brain function, particularly in subcortical regions, with findings differing for males and females. Second, I will hone in on the female adolescent brain, and present exploratory work investigating associations between pubertal hormones (estradiol, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone) and brain phenotypes derived from multiple imaging modalities in female adolescents. Using elastic-net regression with cross-validation, both unique and overlapping neural correlates of these hormones are found, suggesting neural mechanisms by which pubertal hormones impact specific behaviours and functioning in females. In summary, this research sheds new light on the role of puberty in shaping sex-specific patterns of brain development, and engendering sex-specific neural sensitivity to the effects of the social environment.


Relevant recent publications:
- Khetan, M., Vijayakumar, N., Tian, Y. E., Herting, M. M., O'Connell, M., Seal, M., & Whittle, S. (2024). Pubertal hormones and the early adolescent female brain: a multimodality brain MRI study. bioRxiv, 2024.2011.2027.625122. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.11.27.625122.
- Cheng, T. W., Magis-Weinberg, L., Guazzelli Williamson, V., Ladouceur, C. D., Whittle, S. L., Herting, M. M., ... & Pfeifer, J. H. (2021). A Researcher’s Guide to the Measurement and Modeling of Puberty in the ABCD Study® at Baseline. Frontiers in endocrinology, 12, 608575.
- Rakesh, D., Seguin, C., Zalesky, A., Cropley, V., & Whittle, S. (2021). Associations between neighborhood disadvantage, resting-state functional connectivity, and behavior in the adolescent brain cognitive development study: the moderating role of positive family and school environments. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 6(9), 877-886.