Timing and Tempo of Puberty and Neurodevelopment Following Adversity: A Registered Report

Stress exposure may influence the pace of pubertal and brain development; however, empirical findings are mixed, with evidence for both acceleration and deceleration. We used seven waves of data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (n = 5041) to examine associations between adversity and pubertal and structural brain development, as well as working memory. We hypothesized that higher adversity would predict more advanced puberty and brain structure at baseline, which would in turn be associated with better working memory performance. Pubertal timing and tempo was modeled using logistic growth curves, while subcortical and cortical gray matter volume (GMV) intercepts and slopes were estimated using latent growth curve models. We estimated effects separately for males and females. Earlier pubertal timing was associated with accelerated brain maturation, and adversity was associated with earlier pubertal timing (girls only), faster tempo, and differences in brain structure at baseline; adversity was also associated with lower working memory performance. There were significant indirect effects of higher adversity on lower working memory performance via lower initial GMV and slower pubertal tempo. These results demonstrate how adversity is linked to variation in the timing of brain development across multiple structural metrics.