The effects of puberty on genetic risk for disordered eating: evidence for a sex difference

Differences in genetic influences on disordered eating are present across puberty in girls. Heritability is 0% before puberty, but over 50% during and after puberty. Emerging data suggest that these developmental differences may be due to pubertal increases in ovarian hormones. However, a critical p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological medicine 2012-03, Vol.42 (3), p.627-637
Main Authors: Klump, K. L., Culbert, K. M., Slane, J. D., Burt, S. A., Sisk, C. L., Nigg, J. T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adolescent Development
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Boys
Child
Diseases in Twins
Eating disorders
Estradiol - metabolism
Feeding and Eating Disorders - diagnosis
Feeding and Eating Disorders - epidemiology
Feeding and Eating Disorders - genetics
Feeding and Eating Disorders - metabolism
Female
Gender differences
Genetic factors
Genetic Predisposition to Disease - epidemiology
Genetics
Health risk assessment
Heritability
Hormones
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Models, Theoretical
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Puberty
Puberty - metabolism
Puberty - physiology
Registries
Risk Factors
Sex Characteristics
Young Adult
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Summary:Differences in genetic influences on disordered eating are present across puberty in girls. Heritability is 0% before puberty, but over 50% during and after puberty. Emerging data suggest that these developmental differences may be due to pubertal increases in ovarian hormones. However, a critical piece of evidence is lacking, namely, knowledge of genetic influences on disordered eating across puberty in boys. Boys do not experience increases in ovarian hormones during puberty. Thus, if pubertal increases in genetic effects are present in boys, then factors in addition to ovarian hormones may drive increases in heritability in girls. The current study was the first to examine this possibility in a sample of 1006 male and female twins from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Disordered eating was assessed with the Minnesota Eating Behavior Survey. Pubertal development was assessed with the Pubertal Development Scale. No significant differences in genetic influences on disordered eating were observed in males across any developmental stage. Heritability was 51% in boys during pre-puberty, puberty and young adulthood. By contrast, in girls, genetic factors accounted for 0% of the variance in pre-puberty, but 51% of the variance during puberty and beyond. Sex differences in genetic effects were only significant during pre-puberty, as the best-fitting models constrained heritability to be equal across all males, pubertal females and young adult females. The results highlight sex-specific effects of puberty on genetic risk for disordered eating and provide indirect evidence of a role for ovarian hormones and/or other female-specific factors.
ISSN:0033-2917
1469-8978
DOI:10.1017/S0033291711001541