This project encompasses a series of studies examining the behavioral correlated of endocrine disorders, including children with precocious puberty, Turner's syndrome and growth hormone deficiency. A first objective was to determine whether these children are at risk for problems in psychosocial adjustment. In a sample of children with precocious puberty, we reported that these children do, in fact, show an above-normal incidence of a variety of adjustment problems. A current objective is to ascertain the factor(s) responsible for this finding. Analyses during the past fiscal year have focused on 3 issues: (1) Closer examination of the previously reported relation between age and behavior problems revealed that children who did not receive treatment until 8 years old were at very high risk (85%) for clinical levels of behavior problems. We are currently determining what characteristics of this group could be responsible for this finding. (2) There was no effect of treatment for reported behavior problems even though the treatment was effective in reducing sex steroid and gonadotropin levels. This suggests that the adjustment difficulties we have seen in this sample are not the direct result of hormonal action. (3) Comparison between our idiopathic cases and cases matched on Tanner stage data from an ongoin NIMH study of normal puberty showed several differences in behavioral adjustment. In several areas the probands showed evidence of greater adjustment difficulties than did the control cases, particularly with regard to hyperactivity. (4) In contrast to previous research, we found no evidence of verbal IQ superiority in a sample of girls aged 5 to 8 with idiopathic precocious puberty.
