Peer Relationships and Depressive Symptomatology in Boys at Puberty

Puberty represents a vital juncture for children’s well-being and emotional stability. A marked surge of problem behaviors and clinical risks emerge during this critical developmental window and continue to evolve over the course of adolescence. Although puberty is a universal transition, there are notable fluctuations in development across children, and these differences serve as key predictors of subsequent well-being. To date, the majority of research on individual differences at puberty has centered on pubertal timing, or when children reach specific physical milestones relative to their same-age, same-gender peers (Ge & Natsuaki, 2009). Although pubertal timing is the most commonly investigated individual difference at puberty, it is not the only source of variability in development. Children differ not only in when they mature but also in how quickly they change (Marshall & Tanner, 1969, 1970; Susman et al., 2010). This rate of intraindividual maturation is known as pubertal tempo. Recently, we reported that, in boys, both pubertal timing and tempo predicted changes in depressive symptoms in early adolescence (Mendle, Harden, Brooks-Gunn, & Graber, 2010). While most boys, on average, experienced a decrease in depressive symptoms during puberty, boys with rapid tempo and earlier timing actually increased in depressive symptoms. The effects of pubertal tempo were substantially stronger than those of pubertal timing, suggesting that, for boys, rapid pubertal change may be a more important mechanism of risk than simple timing of development. These findings implicate a new avenue for understanding the impact of individual differences in boys’ psychopathology at puberty. This is particularly important given that the psychosocial adjustment of boys during puberty is a research area with notably mixed results (e.g., Conley & Rudolph, 2009; Ge et al., 2003; Graber, Lewinsohn, Seeley, & Brooks-Gunn, 1997; Huddleston & Ge, 2003; Kaltiala-Heino, Marttunen, Rantanen, & Rimpela, 2003; Zehr, Culbert, Sisk, & Klump, 2007), especially when compared with the consistency of findings regarding early puberty in girls (see Mendle, Turkheimer, & Emery, 2007, for review). The present investigation examines the role of peer relationship quality in the association between pubertal development (both tempo and timing) and change in depressive symptoms for boys during early adolescence. The maturation compression hypothesis (Mendle et al., 2010) posits that a rapid developmental progression might demand a correspondingly quick adaptation to the new biological and social milestones that characterize puberty. The process can be exigent not only because a child must individually come to terms with staggering physical transformation but because others will also respond to this development—adapting their attitudes, behaviors, and expectations in response to a child’s new developmental status. For this reason, the physical changes of puberty are generally accompanied by substantial and vital changes in social roles and relationships (e.g., Alsaker, 1995; Paikoff & Brooks-Gunn, 1991). Such changes are not instantaneous, however, but rather require time to come into full effect (Wentzel, 2003). Therefore, a rapid developmental tempo may mean that children would progress through puberty at a rate faster than the social environment can feasibly respond. While puberty precipitates changes in multiple social domains, young adolescents may be particularly sensitive to changes in relationships with peers. In general, peer interactions take on a heightened importance during the pubertal period, supplanting previous reliance on parents (e.g., Connell & Dishion, 2006; Larson & Richards, 1991; Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986) and continuing to be a primary concern throughout adolescence (Brown, 2004; Prinstein & La Greca, 2002). It has been hypothesized that children have difficulties maintaining friendships with peers whose level of physical maturation differs from their own (Conley & Rudolph, 2009; Ge, Conger, & Elder, 1996; Petersen, Sarigiani, & Kennedy, 1991) and that they derive aspects of identity, self-concept, and self-awareness from the stability and quality of their peer interactions (Brown, 2004; Brown, Von Bank, & Steinberg, 2008). Problems getting along with peers (and sensitivity to peer rejection) are often critical antecedents of psychological distress, depression, and anxiety during early adolescence (e.g., McDonald, Bowker, Rubin, Laursen, & Duchene, 2010); of particular relevance for boys may be the emphasis on social dominance hierarchies during the middle school and early adolescent period, which may elicit increased concern over social standing and peer exclusion (Connell & Dishion, 2006; see also Rose & Rudolph, 2006, for a review). The present study extends our previous research on the effects of pubertal timing and tempo on change in depressive symptoms during the transition to early adolescence among boys (Mendle et al., 2010). Using latent growth curve models, we previously showed that boys’ initial levels of pubertal maturation relative to same-age peers (pubertal timing) and their rate of change in pubertal status between ages 8 and 13 (pubertal tempo) predicted changes in depressive symptoms (Mendle et al., 2010). As yet, no studies have targeted the psychosocial experiences that may explain these effects. In the current article, we address this by examining the role of changes in the quality of peer relationships. Specifically, we tested whether (1) earlier pubertal timing and more rapid pubertal tempo predict decrements in the quality of boys’ peer relationships and (2) whether these changes in peer relationships account for the association between pubertal change and changes in depressive symptoms.