Stress May be the Cause of Early Onset of Puberty in Girls
We have heard that girls are going through puberty earlier because of the hormones in our food supply and because of environmental factors. In a survey of more than 17,000 American girls ages 7 and 8, 15% of Caucasian girls and 48% of African-American girls were experiencing breast development, pubic hair or both. And the median age for menstruation was age 12.
Now there is new research that says some girls may go through puberty earlier because of a stressful home life. In a study released today, researchers at the University of Arizona and the University of Wisconsin-Madison followed families of 227 preschool children through middle school. They were watching for the first sign of puberty.
They found that young girls with families who were more supportive during these years tended to hit puberty later than the girls with less supportive family environments. Children who grow up in environments that are dangerous and unpredictable tend to grow up faster,” he said. “In the world in which humans evolved, danger and uncertainty meant a shorter lifespan, and going into puberty earlier in this context increased chances of surviving, reproducing and passing on your genes” said Ellis a professor at in the Division of Family Studies and Human Development at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
This is alarming on so many levels. There have been instances I have read about where a five year old girl has started menstruating. Girls who start puberty early are at higher risk for breast cancer, teenage pregnancy and depression.
We all know how stress can effect adults, weight loss or gain, problems sleeping etc, it is reasonable to think that stress can physically hurt young children as well. What do you think of this new reasearch?
early puberty, girls, tweens, parenting, parenting children, children’s health, early onset of puberty, parenting girls, stress in children
November 16th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
[...] are actually growing up a lot faster than they used to and the media doesn’t help this. It just seems they’re into fashion a lot [...]