Puberty Pressure

November 5, 2008

Adolescence can take quite a toll. Now University of Florida researchers have found that when dealing with social pressures girls who go through puberty early face more stress than girls who mature on schedule.

The study measured reactions to stress by recording, in saliva samples, levels of a key stress hormone. Most concerning to researcher Julia Graber is that results show early maturing girls often don’t have coping strategies that come in handy.

Graber: “Those girls who weren’t using those effective coping strategies, the problem-solving, were more likely to develop internalizing problems, things like feeling sad or blue, feeling anxious, those kinds of symptoms and it was related in part to the way they were approaching the problems they were experiencing.”

Results show that teasing and other forms of bullying, such as through text messaging and internet sites, make it even harder for early maturing girls.

Graber: “What we’re really seeing is they’re not necessarily very effective at coping with these problems. And so that in and of itself is kind of showing they’re not ready for these additional pressures with everything else that’s already going on.”

Trends suggest more girls are entering puberty at earlier ages than in the past, putting more and more at risk for anxiety and symptoms of depression.

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