Impact of life stress on hormone-mood relationships in peripubertal girls

Elevated risk of depression in females begins at puberty and persists through the reproductive lifespan, implicating sex hormones. Sensitivity to estrogen flux promotes affective symptoms in susceptible women in the context of stress; yet this phenomenon has not been studied in peripubertal girls. 42 peripubertal girls (ages 11-14) reported stressful life events (SLEs) and completed the TSST following 8 weekly mood and estrone (E1) measures. Multilevel models tested the interaction of SLE with the magnitude and direction of weekly E1 change in predicting depression symptoms, and E1 variability over 8 weeks and cortisol stress reactivity. Greater E1 change predicted interpersonal depression symptoms, especially in those with more SLEs [F(1,172)=7.76,p=0.01]. Further, females with high E1 variability exhibited blunted cortisol stress reactivity (F(1,39)=4.50,p=0.04). E1 variability may act as a diathesis for mood impairment in the pubertal transition. Similar to other reproductive transitions, greater changes in E1 in the context of SLEs were associated with more affective symptoms. Altered HPA regulation related to high E1 variability may represent a proximal risk marker of affective illness.