The DOI matches its Crossref record; 93 of the 93 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Family environments, adrenarche and sexual maturation: a longitudinal test of a life history model
Abstract
Life history theorists have proposed that humans have evolved to be sensitive to specific features of early childhood environments and that exposure to different environments biases children toward development of different reproductive strategies, including differential pubertal timing. The current research provides a longitudinal test of this theory. Assessments of family environments, based on interviews with mothers and fathers, were conducted in preschool, and children were then followed prospectively through middle childhood. Adrenal hormones were assayed in a selected subsample of 120 children (73 girls) at age 7, and parent and child reports of secondary sexual characteristics were collected in the full female sample of 180 girls at age 11. Higher quality parental investment (from both mothers and fathers) and less father-reported Marital Conflict/Depression forecast later adrenarche. Older age at menarche in mothers, higher socioeconomic status, greater mother-based Parental Supportiveness, and lower third-grade body mass index each uniquely and significantly predicted later sexual development in daughters. Consistent with a life history perspective, quality of parental investment emerged as a central feature of the proximal family environment in relation to pubertal timing.
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“familial stress experienced in childhood anticipates adrenarche in both boys and girls”
From The Adaptive Calibration Model of stress responsivity (2011) · cites this paper as Ellis and Essex (2007)
In the citing paper
“Thus, cues to extrinsic morbidity-mortality guide development toward LH trade-offs favoring an earlier pubertal transition from somatic to reproductive effort (e.g., Belsky et al., 1991; Ellis and Essex, 2007; Tither and Ellis, 2008) but future over current reproduction in adulthood, especially in females (e.g., Nakamura et al., 2008; Nepomnaschy et al., 2006)”
From The Adaptive Calibration Model of stress responsivity (2011) · cites this paper as Ellis and Essex, 2007
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Sexual and Reproductive Development
Belsky, J. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2485-1
Early Attachment Experiences and Romantic Attachment
Warren, S. M., DelPriore, D. J., & Ellis, B. J. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1725-1
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Sexual and Reproductive Development
Belsky, J. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_2485
Levesque, R. J. R. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-32132-5_506-2
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“In sum, the differential susceptibility to environment suggests that social contexts may play a larger role in determining lifespan outcomes, for better and worse (Ellis & Essex, 2007).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Ellis, B. J., & Essex, M. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ellis, Bruce J
- Venue
- Child Development
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2007-11-01
- Volume
- 78
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1799-1817
- ISSN
- 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8624
- OpenAlex
- W2024429459
- Cited by
- 320
- References
- 92
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 29 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 14.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH44340, P50-MH 52354, P50MH052354, R01MH044340)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- adrenarche, pubertal timing, sexual maturation, life history theory, parental investment, family environment, marital conflict, parental depression, socioeconomic status, body mass index, menarche, early childhood, adrenal hormones, secondary sexual characteristics
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Age Factors, Autonomic Nervous System, Child, Child, Preschool, Depression, Family, Father-Child Relations, Female, Humans, Individuality, Life Change Events, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Prospective Studies, Puberty, Sexual Maturation, Social Environment, Social Support, Body Mass Index, Parenting, Adrenarche, Family Conflict
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