IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nathum/v5y2021i2d10.1038_s41562-020-00968-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sex continuum in the brain and body during adolescence and psychological traits

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel E. Vosberg

    (Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
    Hospital for Sick Children)

  • Catriona Syme

    (Hospital for Sick Children)

  • Nadine Parker

    (Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
    University of Toronto)

  • Louis Richer

    (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi)

  • Zdenka Pausova

    (Hospital for Sick Children
    University of Toronto)

  • Tomáš Paus

    (Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
    University of Toronto
    University of Toronto)

Abstract

Many traits of the brain and body show marked sex differences, but the distributions of their values overlap substantially between the two sexes. To investigate variations associated with biological sex, beyond binary differences, we create continuous sex scores capturing the inter-individual variability in phenotypes. In an adolescent cohort (n = 1,029; 533 females), we have generated three sex scores based on brain–body traits: ‘overall’ (48 traits), ‘pubertal’ (26 traits) and ‘non-pubertal’ (22 traits). We then conducted sex-stratified multiple linear regressions (adjusting for age) using sex scores to test associations with sex hormones, personality traits and internalizing–externalizing behaviour. Higher sex scores (that is, greater ‘femaleness’) were associated with lower testosterone in males only, as well as lower extraversion, higher internalizing and lower externalizing in both sexes. The associations with testosterone, internalizing and externalizing were driven by pubertal sex scores, underscoring the importance of adolescence in shaping within-sex individual variability.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel E. Vosberg & Catriona Syme & Nadine Parker & Louis Richer & Zdenka Pausova & Tomáš Paus, 2021. "Sex continuum in the brain and body during adolescence and psychological traits," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(2), pages 265-272, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:5:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1038_s41562-020-00968-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-00968-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-00968-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41562-020-00968-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:5:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1038_s41562-020-00968-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.