Cognitive and Behavioral Characteristics of Turner Syndrome: Exploring a Role for Ovarian Hormones in Female Sexual Differentiation

Authors: Collaer M.L.¹; Geffner M.E.²; Kaufman F.R.³; Buckingham B.⁴; Hines M.^{1, 5}

Source: Hormones and Behavior, Volume 41, Number 2, March 2002 , pp. 139-155(17)

Publisher: Academic Press

Abstract:

To better understandfactors contributing to behavioral development, we studied patients with Turner syndrome (TS), a disorder typically marked by prenatal onset of ovarian dysfunction. We compared girls and women (ages 12 and up) with TS (n = 21) to matched controls (n = 21) in cognitive and motor skills, as well as sex-typed personality characteristics and activity preferences. Measures were categorized (based on prior studies) as showing an average male advantage (male-superior measures), female advantage (female-superior measures), or no sex difference (sex-neutral measures). It was hypothesized that, if gonadal function contributes to behavioral development, effects of this deficiency would be more prominent on sexually differentiated than sex-neutral measures and thus that patient–control differences would be most marked for measures that show sex differences. Our findings indicated that TS patients and controls differed more on cognitive and motor domains that show sex differences than on sex-neutral domains. Patients also had more “undifferentiated” personalities and showed reduced sex-typed interests and activities. Differing experiences, as indexed by interests and activities, did not explain the observed cognitive and motor differences. These results are consistent with a role for ovarian hormones acting on the brain to influence cognitive and behavioral development, although they do not rule out other possible interpretations. ©2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

Keywords: estradiol; estrogen; steroid(s); behavior; cognition; motor; Turner syndrome; ovarian dysgenesis; gonadal; hormones; organization

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095 2: Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095 3: Children's Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California, 90021 4: Children's Hospital of Orange County, Orange, California, 92868 5: City University, London, EC1V 0HB, England

Publication date: 2002-03-01

• In this: publication
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• In this Subject: Anatomy & Physiology ,  Psychology
• By this author: Collaer M.L. ;  Geffner M.E. ;  Kaufman F.R. ;  Buckingham B. ;  Hines M.

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