OBJECTIVE: Research on sources of variation in adolescent's gonadal hormone levels is limited. We sought to decompose individual differences in adolescent testosterone, estradiol, and pubertal status, into genetic and environmental components. DESIGN: A sample of male and female adolescent twins from the greater Austin and Houston areas provided salivary samples, with a subset of participants providing longitudinal data at 2 waves. PARTICIPANTS: The sample included 902 adolescent twins, 49% female, aged 13-20 years (M = 15.91) from the Texas Twin Project. Thirty-seven per cent of twin pairs were monozygotic; 30% were same-sex dizygotic (DZ) pairs; and 33% were opposite-sex DZ pairs. MEASUREMENTS: Saliva samples were assayed for testosterone and estradiol using chemiluminescence immunoassays. Pubertal status was assessed using self-report. Biometric decompositions were performed using multivariate quantitative genetic models. RESULTS: Genetic factors contributed substantially to variation in testosterone in males and females in the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle (h2 = 60% and 51%, respectively). Estradiol was also genetically influenced in both sexes, but was predominately influenced by nonshared environmental factors. The correlation between testosterone and estradiol was mediated by a combination of genetic and environmental influences for males and females. Genetic and environmental influences on hormonal concentrations were only weakly correlated with self-reported pubertal status, particularly for females. CONCLUSIONS: Between-person variability in adolescent gonadal hormones and their interrelationship reflects both genetic and environmental processes, with both testosterone and estradiol containing sizeable heritable components.
OBJECTIVE: Research on sources of variation in adolescent's gonadal hormone levels is limited. We sought to decompose individual differences in adolescent testosterone, estradiol, and pubertal status, into genetic and environmental components. DESIGN: A sample of male and female adolescent twins from the greater Austin and Houston areas provided salivary samples, with a subset of participants providing longitudinal data at 2 waves. PARTICIPANTS: The sample included 902 adolescent twins, 49% female, aged 13-20 years (M = 15.91) from the Texas Twin Project. Thirty-seven per cent of twin pairs were monozygotic; 30% were same-sex dizygotic (DZ) pairs; and 33% were opposite-sex DZ pairs. MEASUREMENTS: Saliva samples were assayed for testosterone and estradiol using chemiluminescence immunoassays. Pubertal status was assessed using self-report. Biometric decompositions were performed using multivariate quantitative genetic models. RESULTS: Genetic factors contributed substantially to variation in testosterone in males and females in the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle (h2 = 60% and 51%, respectively). Estradiol was also genetically influenced in both sexes, but was predominately influenced by nonshared environmental factors. The correlation between testosterone and estradiol was mediated by a combination of genetic and environmental influences for males and females. Genetic and environmental influences on hormonal concentrations were only weakly correlated with self-reported pubertal status, particularly for females. CONCLUSIONS: Between-person variability in adolescent gonadal hormones and their interrelationship reflects both genetic and environmental processes, with both testosterone and estradiol containing sizeable heritable components.
Authors: M M G Koenis; R M Brouwer; G C M van Baal; I L C van Soelen; J S Peper; M van Leeuwen; H A Delemarre-van de Waal; D I Boomsma; H E Hulshoff Pol Journal: J Clin Endocrinol Metab Date: 2013-02-21 Impact factor: 5.958
Authors: E A M Kuijper; C B Lambalk; D I Boomsma; S van der Sluis; M A Blankenstein; E J C de Geus; D Posthuma Journal: Hum Reprod Date: 2007-06-13 Impact factor: 6.918
Authors: Claes Ohlsson; Henri Wallaschofski; Kathryn L Lunetta; Lisette Stolk; John R B Perry; Annemarie Koster; Ann-Kristin Petersen; Joel Eriksson; Terho Lehtimäki; Ilpo T Huhtaniemi; Geoffrey L Hammond; Marcello Maggio; Andrea D Coviello; Luigi Ferrucci; Margit Heier; Albert Hofman; Kate L Holliday; John-Olov Jansson; Mika Kähönen; David Karasik; Magnus K Karlsson; Douglas P Kiel; Yongmei Liu; Osten Ljunggren; Mattias Lorentzon; Leo-Pekka Lyytikäinen; Thomas Meitinger; Dan Mellström; David Melzer; Iva Miljkovic; Matthias Nauck; Maria Nilsson; Brenda Penninx; Stephen R Pye; Ramachandran S Vasan; Martin Reincke; Fernando Rivadeneira; Abdelouahid Tajar; Alexander Teumer; André G Uitterlinden; Jagadish Ulloor; Jorma Viikari; Uwe Völker; Henry Völzke; H Erich Wichmann; Tsung-Sheng Wu; Wei Vivian Zhuang; Elad Ziv; Frederick C W Wu; Olli Raitakari; Anna Eriksson; Martin Bidlingmaier; Tamara B Harris; Anna Murray; Frank H de Jong; Joanne M Murabito; Shalender Bhasin; Liesbeth Vandenput; Robin Haring Journal: PLoS Genet Date: 2011-10-06 Impact factor: 5.917
Authors: K Paige Harden; Frank D Mann; Andrew D Grotzinger; Megan W Patterson; Laurence Steinberg; Jennifer L Tackett; Elliot M Tucker-Drob Journal: J Pers Soc Psychol Date: 2017-11-02
Authors: Ann Mary Alex; Tom Ruvio; Kai Xia; Shaili C Jha; Jessica B Girault; Li Wang; Gang Li; Dinggang Shen; Emil Cornea; Martin A Styner; John H Gilmore; Rebecca C Knickmeyer Journal: Cereb Cortex Date: 2022-07-21 Impact factor: 4.861