Relationship Between Weight Status and Self-Image Mediated by Pubertal Timing and Athletic Competence: A Cohort Study With Taiwanese Adolescents.

Background: Self-image reflects overall self-acceptance in developing adolescents. Using a representative cohort of Taiwanese youth, this study aims to explore the relationship between weight status, pubertal timing, athletic competence, and adolescent self-image. Methods: Data come from the Taiwan Youth Project that comprised a longitudinal cohort of adolescents (N = 2690, 51% males, Mage = 13.3 ± 0.5 years) surveyed annually from seventh grade. Self-image was measured by perceived satisfaction with appearance and physique. Weight status was proxied by self-reported body mass index (BMI; kg/m2). Pubertal timing was defined using the Pubertal Developmental Scale, which mainly measured physical changes in puberty. Athletic competence was assessed by experiences with participation in competitive sports and self-perceived talent for sports. Linear regression analysis was applied to test for an association between BMI and self-image. In order to test for mediating roles of pubertal timing and athletic competence, Hayes' PROCESS macro on SPSS was conducted applying 5,000 bootstrap resamples with 95% confidence intervals of the indirect effect. Results: BMI was inversely associated with self-image in both males (ß = -0.074, [-0.095, -0.053]) and females (ß = -0.095, [-0.122, -0.069]). The boot-strapped 95% confidence intervals indicated statistically significant mediating effects of pubertal timing (ß = -0.008, [-0.015, -0.001]) and athletic competence (ß = -0.006, [-0.011, -0.002]) in the link between BMI and self-image in females, whilst only athletic competence mediated this association (ß = -0.006, [-0.009, -0.002]) in males. Moreover, BMI at baseline were also associated with long-term self-image in males (ß = -0.037, [-0.057, -0.017]) and females (ß = 0.132, [0.073, 0.190]). Conclusions: Understanding the mediating factors may help enhance adolescents' self-image by providing guidance on healthy weight and physical activity behaviors according to different stages of pubertal progression.

Exploring the Interaction Effects of Gender Contentedness and Pubertal Timing on Adolescent Longitudinal Psychological and Behavioral Health Outcomes.

Background: Off-time pubertal timing (PT) and non-conforming gender identity have been reported to predict adverse health and well-being in adolescents. However, the joint effects of these two factors are less addressed. We aimed to investigate the main and interaction effects of gender identity, proxied by perceived gender contentedness (GC), and PT on longitudinal adolescent psychological and behavioral outcomes. Methods: Data (N = 1806, Mage = 13.3 ± 0.5 years) come from the Taiwan Youth Project, which prospectively followed a longitudinal cohort of Taiwanese junior high school students from 2000 (wave 1) to 2009 (wave 9). GC was self-reported at waves 1 and 9 in a binary response, and thus 4 GC trajectories were created. PT was defined using the Pubertal Developmental Scale, which mainly measured physical changes in puberty. Multiple linear regression analyses with gender stratification were applied to examine the effects of the GC trajectory and its interaction with PT on the outcomes. Results: A total of 1,562 subjects (86.5%) remained consistently satisfied with their gender, while the GC of 226 subjects (12.6%) changed at some point. Regression analyses found that males with gender dissatisfaction at wave 9 were likely to engage in delinquent behavior, and females in this group were more likely to have lower self-esteem, as compared to those with consistent GC. The interaction effect between the GC trajectory and PT appeared to be associated with smoking and drinking only at wave 1. Conclusions: These findings indicate that healthcare professionals should concentrate on gender non-conforming individuals at early adolescence, navigating them toward a healthy adulthood.

Examining the Relationship between Gender Contentedness and Sex-Related Experiences among Taiwanese Youth.

Little is known about how gender contentedness is related to sex-related experiences among Taiwanese adolescents. Secondary analysis of data (n = 2624, Mage = 13.3 ± 0.47 years and 51% males) on a longitudinal youth cohort was used to track the evolving development of sex-related experiences such as exposure to sexually explicit media, romantic experiences, and sexual behaviors. Hierarchical multinomial logistic regression analyses were applied to study the effects of gender contentedness on sex-related outcome variables. The results showed that nearly 10% of the subjects were not contented with their gender. As compared to peers, gender-discontented adolescents had a higher likelihood of exposures to sexually explicit media (odds ratio [OR]. = 1.70, 95% confidence interval [CI]. = 1.18-2.46) and risky sex behaviors (OR = 2.22, 95% CI = 1.03-4.81). These results shed light on the impact of self-perceived gender contentedness on sex-related experiences in Taiwanese adolescents. Our findings are helpful for the development of practical guidance on sexual health issues, particularly for those who are discontented with their gender.

Trajectory of Food Insecurity and Its Association with Longitudinal Mental Health and Sleep Outcomes in Adolescents from Economically Disadvantaged Families.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a critical transition period in the course of human development. Although food insecurity (FI) has been shown to be associated with adverse mental health and sleep outcomes in US adolescents, there is a paucity of research examining the relationships between FI, mental health, and sleep outcomes in Taiwanese adolescents. Furthermore, it is unknown how the change of FI over time (i.e., the trajectory of FI) is related to health outcomes. METHODS: The data come from the Taiwan Database of Children and Youth in Poverty, which is a national longitudinal project measuring FI in five survey waves (2009-2017). We employed group-based trajectory modeling to classify various FI trends over the five waves using STATA. Furthermore, a generalized estimating equation analysis was conducted with FI trajectories as the independent variable to see how FI trajectory is related to mental health and sleep outcomes. RESULTS: In total, 1921 participants aged 12-18 years in the first wave were deemed valid for the analysis. We classified the participants into four FI trajectory groups: persistently low FI (24.8%), persistently moderate FI (64.7%), declining from high to low FI (4.1%), and food-secure groups (6.4%). As compared to food-secure adolescents, the persistently moderate FI group was more likely to have mental problems (ß = 0.30, [95% confidence interval 0.21-0.38]), while the other FI groups were only marginally associated with mental health problems. Moreover, adolescents in the persistently low FI group (ß = 0.13, [0.02-0.23]) and persistently moderate FI group (ß = 0.39, [0.29-0.48]) were found to have more sleep problems than those in the food-secure group. CONCLUSIONS: Our study describes the FI profile of adolescents from economically disadvantaged families and the difficulties they might encounter. With this information, healthcare providers can aid adolescents in the early stages of mental health problems and provide guidance when appropriate.

Proteome-wide analysis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae identifies several PHD fingers as novel direct and selective binding modules of histone H3 methylated at either lysine 4 or lysine 36.

The PHD finger motif is a signature chromatin-associated motif that is found throughout eukaryotic proteomes. Here we have determined the histone methyl-lysine binding activity of the PHD fingers present within the Saccharomyces cerevisiae proteome. We provide evidence on the genomic scale that PHD fingers constitute a general class of effector modules for histone H3 trimethylated at lysine 4 (H3K4me3) and histone H3 trimethylated at lysine 36 (H3K36me3). Structural modeling of PHD fingers demonstrates a conserved mechanism for recognizing the trimethyl moiety and provides insight into the molecular basis of affinity for the different methyl-histone ligands. Together, our study suggests that a common function for PHD fingers is to transduce methyl-lysine events and sheds light on how a single histone modification can be linked to multiple biological outcomes.