Boarding Schools for Girls

Girls who go through puberty early are at risk for aggressive behaviors such as getting into fights or teasing other children. However, their risk returns to normal if they have a nurturing relationship with their parents.

Dr. Sylvie Mrug of the University of Alabama at Birmingham interviewed 330 girls who had started to menstruate at least one year earlier than their peers. She was unclear why these girls were more likely to become both verbally and physically more aggressive than other girls, or why nurturing, communication, and monitoring by parents mitigated that situation.

This study appears in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Labels: aggression, puberty

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

A research team at the University of Alabama has concluded that early puberty and poor parenting skills can result in increased levels of aggression among adolescent girls.

The UA study, which was published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, involved interviews with 330 fifth-grade girls and their parents.

About 80 of the girls who were surveyed were discovered to have matured early, which the researchers defined as beginning to menstruate one year earlier than the average age for their racial and ethnic group. These early maturers were more likely to engage in delinquent behaviors than were the other girls, but they were not more aggressive - unless they also had parents who showed little interest in them.
"Early maturation only predicted physical aggression when combined with low maternal nurturance," wrote the authors of the study, which was led by Dr. Sylvie Mrug.

According to a press release that accompanied the study's publication, the researchers theorize that reduced parental involvement may contribute to increased aggression by forcing the young girls to find other (often less-than-ideal) mentors outside the family.

Early-maturing girls may be at higher risk of aggression or delinquency because they are more likely to be accepted by and form relationships with older boys, who are more likely than younger children to engage in undesirable behaviors, the authors note.

"Parental nurturance may decrease girls' susceptibility to negative peer influence," they write. "Also, parental nurturance may help girls cope with challenges associated with early puberty. By listening to their daughters' difficulties and providing support and encouragement, nurturing parents can help them develop better coping skills and diffuse negative emotions that might otherwise manifest as aggression."

As a result of their findings, the researchers recommend that health care professionals who treat early-maturing girls help ensure that the patients' parents understand the importance of adequate levels of guidance and nurturing.

Labels: parenting, aggression, puberty

Posted By: Boarding Schools for Girls 0 Comments

European girls are entering puberty at younger ages, according to a new study from Denmark.

The study of 1,000 girls found that they began menstrual period at age 9 years and 10 months, an entire year earlier than 1991, when a similar study was conducted. Girls in the 19th century hit puberty at about age 15.

While some see this as a positive sign that nutrition has improved, others find the trend worries some, because hitting puberty early means longer exposure to estrogen, a factor in breast cancer. These girls are also at greater risk for heart disease.

"If girls mature early, they run into teenage problems at an early age, and they are more prone to diseases later on," said Dr. Anders Juul, of the Department of Growth and Reproduction at the University Hospital in Copenhagen. "We should be worried about this regardless of what we think the underlying reasons might be. It is a clear sign that something is affecting our children, whether it is junk food, environmental chemicals or a lack of physical activity."

Previous studies have identified childhood obesity as a risk factor for early puberty.
 

Labels: health, puberty

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

About 13% of seven-year-old and 30% of eight-year-old girls in a new study were showing signs of entering puberty based on the development of their breast tissue.

• Researchers from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco asked 1239 girls to undergo physical examinations.
• About 30% were either white, black or Hispanic, and 5% were Asian.
• Among the eight-year-olds, 42.9% of the blacks, 30.9% of the Hispanic, and 18.3% of the white girls were showing signs of entering puberty.

The age of the onset of puberty has been lowering for decades, and most doctors attribute that fact to better nutrition. However, there is concern of a relationship between early puberty and childhood obesity or environmental factors that are not yet completely understood.

• Many experts on child development express concern that girls are not able to handle the hormonal changes and sexual advances from men and boys at such young ages.
• Cancer experts warn that early menstruation may be related to increased risk for breast cancer.

"It's certainly throwing up a warning flag," said Dr. Frank Brio, lead author of the study. "I think we need to think about the stuff we're exposing our bodies to and the bodies of our kids. This is a wake-up call, and I think we need to pay attention to it."

This study appears in the journal Pediatrics.
 

Labels: health, puberty

Posted By: CRC Health 1 Comment