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Early Pubertal Timing Mediates the Association between Low Socioeconomic Status and Poor Attention and Executive Functioning in a Diverse Community Sample of Adolescents

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Abstract

Low socioeconomic status (SES) may be associated with earlier pubertal timing and impaired attention and executive function (EF) in youth; however, whether pubertal timing mediates the relation between SES and attention or executive functioning remains unclear. Structural equation models tested concurrent and prospective relations between SES, pubertal timing, and attention and executive functioning measures in a gender and racially diverse sample of adolescents (N = 281, 45.6% male, 50.5% White/Caucasian, 46.3% Black/African American, 3.2% Biracial/other, and 44.5% low SES; complete data were not available on some measures). Youth from low SES families experienced earlier pubertal timing, and this accelerated development was associated with worse performance on attention and executive functioning tasks, both concurrently and longitudinally. These findings highlight a pathway by which youth from low socioeconomic backgrounds may develop worse attention and executive functioning abilities during adolescence.

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Funding

This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grants MH101168 and MH079369 to L.B.A.

Data Sharing and Declaration

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but may be available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Allison Stumper, Naoise Mac Giollabhui & Lauren B. Alloy

  2. University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Lyn Y. Abramson

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  1. Allison Stumper
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  2. Naoise Mac Giollabhui
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  3. Lyn Y. Abramson
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  4. Lauren B. Alloy
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Contributions

A.S. generated hypotheses, created the database, aided in data analysis, and drafted the manuscript; N.M.G. helped generate hypotheses, ran and interpreted analyses, and helped draft the manuscript; L.Y.A. provided feedback on the manuscript; L.B.A. helped design the original study and write the grant that funded the study, participated in the design and coordination of this study, and provided feedback on all drafts of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lauren B. Alloy.

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The Temple University Institutional Review Board approved the protocol (IRB protocol #6844).

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Written informed consent was collected from all study participants after explaining their role in the study and before starting data collection.

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Stumper, A., Mac Giollabhui, N., Abramson, L.Y. et al. Early Pubertal Timing Mediates the Association between Low Socioeconomic Status and Poor Attention and Executive Functioning in a Diverse Community Sample of Adolescents. J Youth Adolescence 49, 1420–1432 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01198-x

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