TY - JOUR
T1 - Estradiol and cortisol interactions in youth externalizing psychopathology
AU - Tackett, Jennifer L.
AU - Reardon, Kathleen W.
AU - Herzhoff, Kathrin
AU - Page-Gould, Elizabeth
AU - Harden, K. Paige
AU - Josephs, Robert A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported in part by grants from the Connaught Fund and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation to J.L.T. We would like to thank all the families who participated in this research, the students in the Personality Across Development Lab who helped to carry it out, and Dr. Clemens Kirschbaum at Technical University of Dresden for assistance with hormone assays.
Funding Information:
This research was supported in part by grants from the Connaught Fund and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation to JLT. The funding sources had no involvement in the study design, in the data collection, analysis, and interpretation, in the writing of the report, or in the decision to submit the article for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
PY - 2015/5/1
Y1 - 2015/5/1
N2 - Growing evidence has indicated that gonadal and stress hormones interact to shape socially dominant behavior and externalizing psychopathology; however, such work to date has focused exclusively on the testosterone-cortisol interaction, despite expectations that estradiol should be associated with similar behavioral outcomes to testosterone. Here, we present the first empirical test of the hypothesis that adolescent males and females (. N=. 105, ages 13-18) with high estradiol and low cortisol concentrations are at highest risk for externalizing problems, but - replicating previous work - only among adolescents high on pathological personality traits. Parents reported on youth psychopathology and personality, and hormone concentrations were measured via passive drool. Results confirmed the hypothesis: high estradiol was associated with more externalizing behaviors, but only when cortisol was low and personality traits of disagreeableness and emotional instability were high. Further, these associations held when controlling for testosterone concentrations. These findings provide the first empirical evidence of a hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA). ×. hypothalamic pituitary gonadal (HPG) axis interaction that extends the "dual hormone" hypothesis beyond testosterone.
AB - Growing evidence has indicated that gonadal and stress hormones interact to shape socially dominant behavior and externalizing psychopathology; however, such work to date has focused exclusively on the testosterone-cortisol interaction, despite expectations that estradiol should be associated with similar behavioral outcomes to testosterone. Here, we present the first empirical test of the hypothesis that adolescent males and females (. N=. 105, ages 13-18) with high estradiol and low cortisol concentrations are at highest risk for externalizing problems, but - replicating previous work - only among adolescents high on pathological personality traits. Parents reported on youth psychopathology and personality, and hormone concentrations were measured via passive drool. Results confirmed the hypothesis: high estradiol was associated with more externalizing behaviors, but only when cortisol was low and personality traits of disagreeableness and emotional instability were high. Further, these associations held when controlling for testosterone concentrations. These findings provide the first empirical evidence of a hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA). ×. hypothalamic pituitary gonadal (HPG) axis interaction that extends the "dual hormone" hypothesis beyond testosterone.
KW - Adolescents
KW - Cortisol
KW - Dual-hormone hypothesis
KW - Estradiol
KW - Externalizing behavior
KW - Personality pathology
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U2 - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.02.014
DO - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.02.014
M3 - Article
C2 - 25765756
AN - SCOPUS:84925791254
VL - 55
SP - 146
EP - 153
JO - Psychoneuroendocrinology
JF - Psychoneuroendocrinology
SN - 0306-4530
ER -
