Pubertal Effects on Executive Functioning Among Autistic and Non-Autistic Youth: A Cross Sectional Study

Investigating the role of puberty on executive function (EF) development is important for understanding how maturation and its related changes can impact neural systems underlying EF in autistic (AT) adolescents. Studies document chronological age-related differences in EF among AT youth, but the impact of puberty is understudied. We examined the role of cross-sectional pubertal status (Pubertal Development Scale adrenal and gonadal indices), autism status, and assigned sex at birth on parent-reported EF (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function: inhibition, shift, working memory) in AT and non-autistic (NA) youth. We hypothesized AT youth, particularly females, would show more EF problems in late puberty relative to NA youth. AT males and females and NA females in late puberty had fewer shift problems relative to pre-pubertal youth, whereas NA males in late puberty had more shift problems relative to pre-pubertal NA males. There were no significant assigned sex or puberty differences in working memory for adrenal development and in any EF domain for gonadal development. Findings suggest adrenal puberty contributes to flexibility and may promote certain EF domains in AT youth. Longitudinal research using diverse measures of puberty and EF is needed to clarify findings.