Early Puberty in Girls Affects Health

Early puberty in girls has been found to negatively affect these teenagers' health in areas such as mood disorders, substance abuse, adolescent pregnancy, and cancers of the reproductive system. Given these findings, it is critical to understand why certain adolescents are at increased risk for early puberty in order to develop effective early intervention and prevention strategies for high-risk youths. Children living in families with greater parental supportiveness (from both mothers and fathers) and less marital conflict and depression (but only when reported by fathers) experienced the first hormonal changes of puberty later than other children, the researchers found. In addition, children whose mothers had started puberty later (a genetic factor), whose families were better off when the children were in preschool, whose moms gave them more support when they were in preschool, and who had lower Body Mass Index (BMI) when they were in third grade developed secondary sexual characteristics later than their peers.
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