Abstract
PURPOSE: Racial discrimination has been linked with pubertal development among Black and Latinx American youth. The direction of effects, however, is poorly understood. We examined bidirectional associations between exposure to racial discrimination and pubertal development among Black and Latinx boys and girls from age 9 to age 11. METHODS: This study uses longitudinal data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study collected from 2016 to 2020. The sample included 3,271 youth (1,470 Black youth and 1,801 Latinx youth) approximately aged 11 at Time (T) 1 and 12 at T2. Bidirectional effects were tested with cross-lagged models stratified by race/ethnicity and sex. RESULTS: Results demonstrated nonsignificant associations between T1 racial discrimination and T2 pubertal status among demographic subgroups (i.e. Black girls, Black boys, Latinx girls, and Latinx boys). In contrast, we found significant prospective associations between T1 pubertal development and T2 racial discrimination among Black and Latinx girls, but not Black or Latinx boys. This effect emerged even after consideration of important confounding variables such as stressful life events and neurocognitive development. DISCUSSION: Our results suggest that physical indicators of maturation among Black and Latinx girls may trigger discriminatory treatment from peers and adults. These findings underscore the influence of racist stereotypes applied to young women of color, and their potential to negatively affect youth development.