Family Functioning and Pubertal Maturation in Hispanic/Latino Children from the HCHS/SOL Youth

Ayana K. April-Sanders (), Parisa Tehranifar, Mary Beth Terry, Danielle M. Crookes, Carmen R. Isasi, Linda C. Gallo, Lindsay Fernandez-Rhodes, Krista M. Perreira, Martha L. Daviglus and Shakira F. Suglia
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Ayana K. April-Sanders: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Rutgers School of Public Health, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
Parisa Tehranifar: Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY 10032, USA
Mary Beth Terry: Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY 10032, USA
Danielle M. Crookes: Department of Health Sciences and College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Carmen R. Isasi: Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY 10461, USA
Linda C. Gallo: Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA
Lindsay Fernandez-Rhodes: Department of Biobehavioral Health, College of Health and Human Development, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Krista M. Perreira: Department of Social Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Martha L. Daviglus: Institute of Minority Health Research, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
Shakira F. Suglia: Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: Previous studies have examined the association between family dysfunction and pubertal timing in adolescent girls. However, the evidence is lacking on the role of family dysfunction during sensitive developmental periods in both boys and girls from racial and ethnic minority groups. This study aimed to determine the effect of family dysfunction on the timing of pubertal maturation among US Hispanic/Latino children and adolescents. Participants were 1466 youths (50% female; ages 8–16 years) from the Hispanic Community Children’s Health Study/Study of Latino Youth (SOL Youth). Pubertal maturation was measured using self-administered Pubertal Development Scale (PDS) items for boys and girls. Family dysfunction included measures of single-parent family structure, unhealthy family functioning, low parental closeness, and neglectful parenting style. We used multivariable ordinal logistic and linear regression analyses to examine the associations between family dysfunction and pubertal maturation (individual and cumulative measures), with adjustment for childhood BMI and socioeconomic factors, design effects (strata and clustering), and sample weights. Multivariable models of individual PDS items showed that family dysfunction was negatively associated with growth in height (OR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.44, 0.99) in girls; no associations were found in boys. In the assessment of cumulative PDS scores, family dysfunction was associated with a lower average pubertal maturation score (b = −0.63, 95% CI: −1.21, −0.05) in boys, while no associations were found in girls. Pubertal timing lies at the intersection of associations between childhood adversity and adult health and warrants further investigation to understand the factors affecting timing and differences across sex and sociocultural background.

Keywords: family functioning; childhood adversity; puberty; youth; Hispanic/Latino (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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