(PS11-96) The Effects of Pubertal Development on Irritability Trajectories in the ABCD Sample

Irritability, conceptualized as increased proneness to anger relative to same-age peers, is a common and impairing transdiagnostic cause for mental health referral, and confers long-term risk for a range of mental disorders and functional impairments. Given that most mental disorders onset in mid-to-late adolescence, identifying the course of irritability in early adolescence, as well as individual differences and potential mechanisms explaining varied developmental trajectories, is crucial. Such work, in turn, can inform efforts to intervene before irritability gives rise to lifelong psychiatric illness. The pubertal transition, in particular, marks a period of significant vulnerability for the emergence of mental health problems. This developmental upsurge in psychopathology occurs irrespective of chronological age, rendering puberty a putative mechanism of risk and critical window for studying and preventing adolescent-emergent psychopathology.  

Although irritability is linked with several forms of psychopathology, and risk for such psychopathology rises sharply during puberty, no study has examined associations between puberty and irritability, specifically. While recent work demonstrates that trajectories of irritability diverge at the chronological age of 9, the specific contribution of pubertal development on changes in irritability remains unclear. Extant studies of puberty and psychopathology, generally, have historically been limited by small sample sizes, cross-sectional designs, and/or samples of limited racial/ethnic diversity. Such work has also been focused on diagnosed mental disorders and DSM symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depression), rather than transdiagnostic presentations (e.g., irritability).

We leverage data from the first 4 years (baseline; ages 9-10 – wave 4; ages 13-15) of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study – a national, longitudinal sample of preadolescents (N = 11,868) across 21 sites in the U.S (52% White, 13% African American/Black, 24% Hispanic/Latinx, 10% another race and/or multiracial). In line with recent work in the ABCD sample and among early adolescents from a community-based longitudinal sample, a composite irritability score was created using 5 caregiver-reported CBCL items, 3 caregiver-reported ODD symptom items and 1 youth-reported depression item from the KSADS-COMP. Pubertal development was measured via the PDS, a self- and caregiver-report of perceived physical development whereby higher summed scores reflect more advanced pubertal status. This poster will present findings from latent class growth curve models used to examine the impact of puberty on the course of irritability across adolescence. In these models, irritability was entered as a repeated measure dependent variable, and pubertal status and timing were used as predictors of irritability class membership (along with several demographic covariates). Associations with child gender and racial/ethnic identity, including the extent to which these variables may moderate puberty-irritability links, will also be presented. Findings will be considered in terms of informing improved identification, prevention, and treatment efforts for adolescent-emergent irritability.