Pubertal timing predicts adult psychosexuality: Evidence from typically developing adults and adults with isolated GnRH deficiency. (September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Shirazi, Talia N.; Self, Heather; Dawood, Khytam; Cárdenas, Rodrigo; Welling, Lisa L.M.; Rosenfield, Kevin A.; Ortiz, Triana L.; Carré, Justin M.; Balasubramanian, Ravikumar; Delaney, Angela; Crowley, William; Breedlove, S. Marc; Puts, David A.
• Is Part Of: Psychoneuroendocrinology. Volume 119(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-09
• Subjects: Pubertal timing -- Organizational effects -- Hormones -- Psychosexuality -- Isolated GnRH deficiency; Psychoneuroendocrinology -- Periodicals; Endocrinology -- Periodicals; Neurology -- Periodicals; Psychiatry -- Periodicals; Neuropsychoendocrinologie -- Périodiques; 616.8
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104733
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-4530

Abstract

Highlights: We tested whether pubertal timing predicts psychosexuality in men and women. Participants were typically-developing or had isolated GnRH deficiency (IGD). Pubertal timing was determined by age of HRT initiation in IGD participants. In both sexes, earlier pubertal timing predicted higher psychosexuality in adulthood. Earlier pubertal hormone exposure may lead to more male-typical psychosexuality. Abstract: Evidence suggests that psychosexuality in humans is modulated by both organizational effects of prenatal and peripubertal sex steroid hormones, and by activational effects of circulating hormones in adulthood. Experimental work in male rodents indicates that sensitivity to androgen-driven organization of sexual motivation decreases across the pubertal window, such that earlier puberty leads to greater sex-typicality. We test this hypothesis in typically developing men ( n = 231) and women ( n = 648), and in men ( n = 72) and women ( n = 32) with isolated GnRH deficiency (IGD), in whom the precise timing of peripubertal hormone exposure can be ascertained via the age at which hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was initiated. Psychosexuality was measured with the Sexual Desire Inventory-2 (SDI-2) and Sociosexual Orientation Inventory-Revised (SOI-R). In both sexes, earlier recalled absolute pubertal timing predicted higher psychosexuality in adulthood, although the magnitude of these associations varied with psychosexuality type and group (i.e., typically developing and IGD). Results were robust when controlling for circulating steroid hormones in typically developing participants. Age of initiation of HRT in men with IGD negatively predicted SOI-R. We discuss the clinical implications of our findings for conditions in which pubertal timing is medically altered.