Testosterone and Child and Adolescent Adjustment: The Moderating Role of Parent-Child Relationships

In a sample of established middle- and working-class families with normally developing children and adolescents ranging in age from 6 to 18 years, sons' and daughters' testosterone levels showed little direct connection to risk behavior or symptoms of depression. In contrast, testosterone's positive relation with risk behavior and negative relation with depression were conditional on the quality of parent-child relations. As parent-child relationship quality increased, testosterone-related adjustment problems were less evident. When relationship quality decreased, testosterone-linked risk-taking behavior and symptoms of depression were more in evidence. Few relations were found between parents' testosterone and child behavior. Boys' and girls' ages and stages of pubertal development were important for understanding the expression of hormone-related problem behavior in some cases but not in others.