Social withdrawal may lead to mental health problems and can have a large impact on a life course, particularly among boys. To support adolescents with social withdrawal, an integrative understanding of the biological bases would be helpful. Social dominance, a possible opposite of social withdrawal, is known to have positive associations with testosterone levels. A previous study suggested that social withdrawal has a negative relationship with sexual maturity among adolescent boys. However, the relationship between social withdrawal and testosterone in adolescence is unknown. This study aimed to examine whether social withdrawal was negatively associated with testosterone levels in early adolescent boys. Salivary samples were collected from 159 healthy early adolescent boys (mean age [standard deviation]: 11.5 [0.73]) selected from participants of the "population-neuroscience study of the Tokyo Teen Cohort" (pn-TTC). Social withdrawal and confounding factors, such as the secondary sexual characteristics and their age in months, were evaluated by self-administered questionnaires completed by the primary parents. The degree of social withdrawal was assessed with the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). Levels of salivary testosterone, and cortisol as a control, were measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Logistic regression was conducted to examine the association between social withdrawal and testosterone levels. A higher risk of social withdrawal was associated with a lower salivary testosterone level after adjustment for age in months (odds ratio 0.55, 95 % confidence interval 0.33-0.94), and the association remained significant after adjusting for body mass index, the degree of anxiety/depression and pubertal stage. Thus, we found a negative relationship between social withdrawal and testosterone levels in early adolescent boys. These findings may help to clarify the biological foundations of and to develop support for social withdrawal.

中文翻译：

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青春期早期男孩的社交退缩和睾丸激素水平

社交退缩可能会导致心理健康问题，并对生命历程产生重大影响，尤其是对男孩而言。为了支持社会退缩的青少年，对生物学基础的综合理解将是有帮助的。众所周知，社会支配地位可能与社会退缩相反，与睾酮水平呈正相关。之前的一项研究表明，社交退缩与青春期男孩的性成熟度呈负相关。然而，社交退缩与青春期睾丸激素之间的关系尚不清楚。这项研究旨在检查社交退缩是否与青春期早期男孩的睾丸激素水平呈负相关。从 159 名健康的青春期早期男孩（平均年龄 [标准差]：11.5 [0. 73]）从“东京青少年队列人口神经科学研究”（pn-TTC）的参与者中选出。社会退缩和混杂因素，如第二性征和他们的年龄以月为单位，通过主要父母完成的自我管理问卷进行评估。社交退缩程度通过儿童行为检查表 (CBCL) 进行评估。通过液相色谱-串联质谱法 (LC-MS/MS) 测量唾液睾酮和皮质醇作为对照的水平。进行逻辑回归以检查社交退缩与睾酮水平之间的关联。社会退缩风险较高与调整月龄后唾液睾酮水平较低有关（优势比 0.55，95% 置信区间 0.33-0.94），在调整体重指数、焦虑/抑郁程度和青春期后，这种关联仍然显着。因此，我们发现早期青春期男孩的社交退缩与睾丸激素水平之间存在负相关关系。这些发现可能有助于澄清社会退缩的生物学基础并为社会退缩提供支持。