Correlates of Menarcheal Age in a Psychiatric Sample of Adolescents

Abstract

Early pubertal timing is associated with more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and increased risk for psychopathology during adolescence. However, most work to date has used community or epidemiological samples, and it remains unclear whether these associations persist in acute clinical samples. The present study examined associations between age at menarche and ACEs, psychiatric symptoms, and emotion regulation difficulties in a sample of N = 140 adolescents on a psychiatric inpatient unit. Youth with early menarche reported higher levels of depressive symptoms, more severe suicidal ideation, and greater difficulty with emotion regulation than youth with normative age at menarche. There was a marginal effect of youth with early menarche reporting more ACEs and more anxiety symptoms. These results suggest menarcheal age, and ACEs may be useful risk factors to assess in inpatient settings to predict risk for more severe outcomes, and future research on pubertal timing in high acuity settings is warranted.