Testosterone and Substance Use Disorders

Biol Psychiatry. 2006 Nov 22; [Epub ahead of print]

Testosterone Levels and Sexual Maturation Predict Substance Use Disorders
in Adolescent Boys: A Prospective Study.

Reynolds MD, Tarter R, Kirisci L, Kirillova G, Brown S, Clark DB, Gavaler
J. Center for Education and Drug Abuse Research, University of Pittsburgh
School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

BACKGROUND: This investigation determined whether testosterone level and
sexual maturation in boys biased development of socially nonnormative
behavior culminating in a substance use disorder (SUD). METHODS: The
subjects were 179 boys recruited in late childhood through a high-risk
paradigm. Path analysis was used to evaluate the influence of testosterone
level and sexual maturation in early adolescence (age 12-14) on attitudes
toward antisociality, affiliation with deviant peers, and social potency in
middle adolescence (age 16), illicit drug use by late adolescence (age 19),
and SUD in young adulthood (age 22). RESULTS: Testosterone level predicted
social potency and approval of aggressive/antisocial behavior. Sexual
maturation mediated the relation between testosterone level in early
adolescence and later affiliation with deviant peers. Social potency,
approval of aggressive/antisocial behavior, and deviant peer affiliations
predicted illicit drug use by late adolescence that in turn predicted SUD
in young adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that pubertal
processes in early adolescence influence the risk for SUD via effects on
psychosocial functioning.
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