Girls Puberty Age Drops?

August 10, 2010

Brad M. Griffin
Brad M. Griffin

Subscribe Now!

Print Make PDF

As the parent of an 8-year-old girl, this one was unsettling.

Girls today may start developing breasts by age 7 or 8, the New York Times reported yesterday from a new study released in the journal Pediatrics. While the average age of first menstruation—typically the mark of girls’ entrance into puberty—remains between ages 12 and 13, recent research argues that other signs of puberty may be dropping.

The debate over earlier puberty in girls has been going for more than a decade, and while the jury seems to still be out, many studies have linked obesity with earlier onset of puberty. That’s also true in this study. So if the age is indeed dropping, it’s primarily doing so among overweight girls.

Nevertheless, it raises all sorts of questions for us as youth workers and for parents of teenagers (or soon to be teenagers).  In the midst of a culture that increasingly pushes sexualized messages on younger girls, how do we also talk about the potential reality of earlier sexual maturity? What kinds of conversations do we need to have with younger girls about their bodies?

I don’t think we need to sound any alarms over this report, but I do think we need to keep talking.

©2010 Fuller Youth Institute

Subscribe Now! Print Back to top
  • http://www.conversationsonthefringe.com Chris Schaffner

    Man this hits close to home Brad. I have a 10 year old daughter who is a VERY early developer. We have had to many discussions with her about what is happening to her body before she may be cognitively developed enough to even understand.

    Likewise, we have had to work diligently to equip her with confidence as she enters this new school year as she will stand out in ways that many her age won’t. She will have to deal with potential ridicule, embarrassment, and attention that these changes will attract.

    I agree that we shouldn’t sound the alarm just yet but we do need to be aware and intentional when walking with out young girls.

    Thanks for this post. It will no doubt generate some good discussion among us parents.

  • http://www.fulleryouthinstitute.org Brad M. Griffin

    Thanks for the thoughtful and personal reply, Chris. And hang in there as you navigate this!

  • Erin Yontz

    This is my world, as one of my collaborating physicians specializes in pediatric and adolescent gynecology…”precocious puberty” is not super-common, and the 9/10 yr old is almost becoming “the norm”. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but you kind of do wonder what’s going on with the water!

  • http://www.fulleryouthinstitute.org Brad M. Griffin

    Erin! Should have asked you to start with. If 9/10 is becoming the new norm it has huge implications for people in my world. Not to mention people in my house…

  • http://www.conversationsonthefringe.com Chris Schaffner

    I’ve noticed that my 10 year old, early developing daughter can hang with the Jr. High and High School kids on some level of cognitive abilities, meaning that she can think abstractly and proverbially as well as many of them do but she is often in classes with kids who have less emotional/cognitive maturity/development.

    I’ve have recently began to wonder if maybe some of the age deliniations should be reconsidered and redrawn along abilities to conceptualize and individual cognition. Not sure if that makes sense and I realize that there are some concerns to doing that.

    It definiately makes a difference as to what we do with her in our own home but we’re discussing the implications in our ministries as well. We are a small local body so we have some freedom to experiment with this (i.e., should a 10 year old, who is the same developmentally as Jr. High students, be allowed to attend Jr. High gatherings?)

    I’d love to hear both of your thoughts.

  • http://www.fulleryouthinstitute.org Brad M. Griffin

    Chris, you’re asking really good questions here that i confess I certainly don’t have “answers” for. But I appreciate how you’re pushing the assumptions.

    Man, I think there are a lot of factors to think about before throwing a 10-yr-old in with 13/14 yr-olds, but there could be some merit to it depending on the situation. Even kids who are or seem to be physically, emotionally, and intellectually ahead of their peers (usually it’s not all three of those) need to feel “normal” in their own age group, that they fit in somehow. Sort of like with “gifted” kids, once we pull them out and put them on their own level or with older kids, we risk social alienation and not really fitting in with either crowd (I’m not them OR them), like the experience of a third-culture kid or missionary kid.

    But giving them some experiences with older kids might be really helpful, particularly if there’s a mentoring relationship with an older girl that can be developed. Just a few initial thoughts.

Post Tags

RelatedContent

Latest Blog Entry

LatestArticles & Audio