Coming of age in war: Early life adversity, age at menarche, and mental health
- PMID:39128396
- PMCID:PMC11381149 (available on)
- DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107153
Coming of age in war: Early life adversity, age at menarche, and mental health
Abstract
Armed conflict and forced migration (ACFM) represent a set of extreme environments that are increasingly common for children and adolescents to experience. Adolescence may constitute a sensitive period (puberty and psychoneurological maturation) through which ACFM adversity leaves a lasting mark. Adolescence has become a focal point for analysis and intervention as it relates to the effects of early life adversity on puberty, linear growth, and mental health. Research in public health and psychological science suggests early life adversity (ELA) may accelerate puberty, heightening risks for mental health disorders. However, it is not well substantiated whether ACFM-derived adversities accelerate or delay relative pubertal timing. Secondly, ACFM provides salient context through which to probe the relationships between nutritional, psychosocial, and demographic changes and their respective impact on puberty and mental health. We conducted a narrative review which 1) examined constructions of early life adversity and their proposed influence on puberty 2) reviewed empirical findings (n = 29 studies, n = 36 samples) concerning effects of ACFM ELA on age at menarche and 3) discussed proposed relationships between early life adversity, puberty, and mental ill-health. Contrary to prior research, we found war-derived early life adversity was more consistently associated with pubertal delay than acceleration and may exert counterintuitive effects on mental health. We show that ELA cannot be operationalized in the same way across contexts and populations, especially in the presence of extreme forms of human stress and resilience. We further discuss the ethics of puberty research among conflict-affected youth.
Keywords: Armed conflict; Early life adversity; Forced migration; Mental health; Puberty.
Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Conflict of interest statement
Declaration of Competing Interest None.
Similar articles
- Earlier age at menarche as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking childhood trauma with multiple forms of psychopathology in adolescent girls.Colich NL, Platt JM, Keyes KM, Sumner JA, Allen NB, McLaughlin KA.Colich NL, et al.Psychol Med. 2020 May;50(7):1090-1098. doi: 10.1017/S0033291719000953. Epub 2019 Apr 25.Psychol Med. 2020.PMID:31020943Free PMC article.
- Early Life Adversity and Pubertal Timing: Implications for Cardiometabolic Health.Bleil ME, Spieker SJ, Gregorich SE, Thomas AS, Hiatt RA, Appelhans BM, Roisman GI, Booth-LaForce C.Bleil ME, et al.J Pediatr Psychol. 2021 Jan 20;46(1):36-48. doi: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsaa082.J Pediatr Psychol. 2021.PMID:33120426Free PMC article.
- Transdiagnostic psychiatric disorder risk associated with early age of menarche: A latent modeling approach.Platt JM, Colich NL, McLaughlin KA, Gary D, Keyes KM.Platt JM, et al.Compr Psychiatry. 2017 Nov;79:70-79. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2017.06.010. Epub 2017 Jul 6.Compr Psychiatry. 2017.PMID:28757148Free PMC article.
- Neurobiological Markers of Resilience to Early-Life Adversity During Adolescence.Méndez Leal AS, Silvers JA.Méndez Leal AS, et al.Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2021 Feb;6(2):238-247. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.08.004. Epub 2020 Aug 13.Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2021.PMID:33067165Review.
- Pubertal Development: What's Normal/What's Not.Smith CE, Biro FM.Smith CE, et al.Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2020 Sep;63(3):491-503. doi: 10.1097/GRF.0000000000000537.Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2020.PMID:32482957Review.
References
- Abu-Lughod L. (1990). the romance of resistance: Tracing transformations of power through Bedouin women. American Ethnologist, 17(1), 41–55. 10.1525/ae.1990.17.1.02a00030 - DOI
- Allerton C. (2020). Stuck in the short term: Immobility and temporalities of care among Florenese migrants in Sabah, Malaysia. Ethnos, 85(2), 208–223.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Related information
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical