Characterizing Allostatic Load during Early Adolescence: Measurement Strategies and Associations with Mental Health and Risk and Protective Factors

According to Allostatic Load (AL) theory, early-life and chronic, uncontrollable stress cause premature aging, leading to physical and mental health problems. Extant youth AL research is hampered by reliance on developmentally-insensitive measurement conventions originating from adult AL studies. This study assessed the developmental utility of four AL measurement strategies with data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N=1303 early adolescents). The traditional count of out-of-range AL biomarkers and an alternative summation of biomarker z-scores had low internal consistencies and were weakly correlated with psychosocial variables. Exploratory factor analysis failed to identify AL factors. Latent profile analysis yielded one “Normative” (average biomarker levels) profile and three distinct AL profiles that were associated with different putative psychosocial risk factors and sequelae. These findings suggest that, instead of downward extension of adult AL conventions, alternate approaches capturing the heterogeneity of biopsychosocial development may most effectively identify accelerated biological aging among early adolescents.