Early Puberty Often More Hazardous 258
An anonymous reader writes "CNN is reporting that scientists are taking a look at the social ramifications of hitting puberty early. From the article: "'There is something unique about early maturity (relative to one's peers) that opens opportunities for victimization experiences,' the study's authors write. 'It's not puberty that is what ultimately causes kids to get victimized,' study co-author Dr. Alex Piquero, a criminologist at the University of Florida, told Reuters Health. 'Early puberty seems to open up a different set of doors and social experiences to kids,' he said, explaining that early maturing youngsters may start socializing with the opposite sex and with older, bigger, and stronger youth earlier than those who do not experience puberty early."
Me (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Me (Score:3, Funny)
All at the same time? Pssssh, mature my arse!
Dumb. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Dumb. (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the point is that self-destructive acts aren't ever supposed to occur at all.
Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Dumb. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Dumb. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Funny)
Only when it burns when you pee.
Re:Dumb. (Score:2)
Re:Dumb. (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, I'm glad that adults don't have that problem.
Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm so sick of this pseudo-argument. The consequences of sex (mainly pregnancy and disease) just aren't that hard to grasp, and there's no doubt in my mind that any teenager can understand them. I certainly could at that age.
It isn't the kind of knowledge that can only be gained through years of experience; it's a collection of straightforward facts, the kind of knowledge that can be printed on a flyer and handed out on the street corner.
The solution is education. Every teenager should know (1) how pregnancy occurs, (2) why pregnancy at a young age is bad, (3) how disease is transmitted, (4) why STDs are bad, and (5) how to prevent pregnancy and the spread of disease. Anyone around the age of puberty who can't learn all that in, say, two weeks will never be able to understand it, and will probably suffer many other problems throughout their sad, clueless lives.
Of course, that education doesn't help much if teenagers aren't able to get it (e.g. their parents pull them out of sex education classes, or the school board implements an "abstinence only" curriculum with no real information), or if they can't use that knowledge to protect themselves (e.g. no access to condoms or birth control). So the other half of the solution is to support honest, factual sex education programs, as well as Planned Parenthood and/or other groups that make contraception available to anyone who needs it.
Re:Dumb. (Score:3, Insightful)
The consequences of smoking and drinking aren't that hard to grasp either, yet children tend to flock to both when given a chance. Hell, there are even ad campaigns, warnings on the side of boxes and bottles, and yearly in school education campaigns. It doesn't matter, because for a teenager, there's nothing better than being thought of as an adult. Who needs consequences when you're bulletproof?
Now, here's your very short clue bus rolling into town: it
Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Insightful)
There are a lot more adult smokers and drinkers than there are minors, aren't there? People like nicotine and alcohol, not just children.
It doesn't matter, because for a teenager, there's nothing better than being thought of as an adult.
Heh. If someone wants to be thought of as an adult, what better way to get him to smoke or drink than to tell him smoking and drinking are only for adults?
There's a huge difference between knowing a bunch of facts and learning something.
And yet, in this case, knowing the facts is enough. If you know that you can have sex with very little risk just by putting on a condom, you'll do it. It worked for me.
Condoms? How are they gonna get em? Birth control? Yeah, little Susie at 14 is going to go ask her mom to take her to the doctor for a birth control prescription.
Thanks for making my point for me. If you want to reduce pregnancies, make condoms and birth control available to the teenagers who want them. They're going to try their damnedest to have sex anyway, and some of them are going to succeed no matter how their parents, teachers, or state legislators try to stop them.
Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Insightful)
In my country, 16 year old Susie has a granted right to get free access to a doctor and get birth control prescription in privacy, with her parents absolutely not getting access to any of her private medical information. (I am not sure about 14 year olds. There might or might not be such issues for them. However, 16 year olds have full rights of privacy and patient-doctor secrecy, and especially in teen STD/pregnancy cases we have full attention that this is really done this way)
In my country, 14 year old low-income non-schooled boys and girls would get information about safe sex, demanding use of condoms, STD's, toll-free phones to arrange doctor's consultations and get birth-control items, etc through messages in radio and huge posters at bus stops in cheap housing areas.
Who needs informed children when the 'feelings of the religious' could be harmed? USA has the worst teenage pregnancy and teenage STD problems of all the developed countries, and the the main difference between USA and others seems simply the information that's getting to the kids.
Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Dumb. (Score:3, Informative)
I think all countries have an age of consent, it's just not always the way you think. Ours is 16, but there's an exception for those of "equal age and mental development" with no lower limit. The law is there to protect a 10yo from being exploited by adults - not to prevent them from exploring with other 10
Re:Dumb. (Score:2)
Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Dumb. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Dumb. (Score:3, Funny)
Captain Obvious (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Dumb. (Score:3, Insightful)
You're using a circular argument; age is usually an indication of physical maturity, which is what really matters when it comes down to pregancy being safe - a 14 year old mature girl will have a safer pregnancy than an 17 year old one who has just started puberty.
So if girls are getting pregnant earlier because they're maturing earlier, it doesn't necessarily make it more dangerous.
Of course, I am of the opinion that 14 is too young to have a child under almost any circumstances; regardless o
Re:Dumb. (Score:2)
Re:Dumb. (Score:3, Insightful)
I think you should write the researchers and demand your $0.00001 back.
Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason this is being studied has a lot to do with the fact that earlier-than-normal puberty is becoming more common (due to diet changes, chemical exposure, or any number of unknown causes) and that our society just isn't adapted to it yet. It's already a concern from a public health standpoint, but it's only recently cought the interest of sociologists. Most of us know from experience that sexual maturity does not go hand-in-hand with emotional maturity, and so there are a lot of questions about how this will affect our society in the future.
You can go on thinking what you will about the study itself, but I think your reaction is a bit too knee-jerk to be modded "Interesting".
How and why are humans starting puberty early? (Score:3, Interesting)
I think it's more interesting to research into why humans are starting puberty early. People normally point to changes in diet and such things, but I wonder if there isn't a social aspect to this as well. The problem with young children getting pregnant is that they are not yet able to properly care for a child. Per Darwinian evolution (which I know isn't the whole story, but just bare with me) a child whose parent is unable to care for it is more likely to die and fail to carry on the traits that lead to e
Beta. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Beta. (Score:2)
Thank you (Score:5, Funny)
Finally. Words the average slashdotter can understand! I mean, it's not like we were going to be able to make sense of this whole "puberty" thing, or this "sex" the article refers to.
Re:Thank you (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Thank you (Score:3, Funny)
You know... it's like that thing you do with your hand. Except there's more than one person involved. And by "person", the digital ones you're looking at during that time don't count. And puberty is like getting a new upgrade, except it's not your e-penis that gets bigger.
Oh nevermind, go back to Googling it.
News? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:News? (Score:2)
In other words, teenage girls shoot, stab and beat you up less often than boys do.
/slaps forehead
Re:News? (Score:3, Funny)
We beg to differ [alaska.net], and want you to keep your pseudoscience to yourselves.
I propose a Congressional Committee meet to investigate this myth. In addition, a $500M infusion to the Flat Earth Society will greatly aid the search for Truth. Remember, the terrorists want you to think the Earth is round.
Re:News? (Score:2)
News for nerds? Stuff that matters? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:News for nerds? Stuff that matters? (Score:2)
I... don't... know... it's about as relevant as the "cell phones cook egg" hoax that was the previous story, although this one is at least not a hoax and possibly tangentally related to science as you might very broadly define the term to include statistics... so I guess it's an improvement?
Did April Fools come early for the slashdot admins this year? Should we still complain? Why am I asking you ?
Re:News for nerds? Stuff that matters? (Score:2)
Re:News for nerds? Stuff that matters? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:News for nerds? Stuff that matters? (Score:2)
Re:News for nerds? Stuff that matters? (Score:3, Informative)
This being a nerd site, I think I'm not the only one who would have benefited from this progr
Call Me a Tin-Foil Hatter but... (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0915811812/103-4
I wish I still had a copy of the facts sheet used to promote the book. Had all sorts of gems (like the fact that the average American house-cat eats more meat than the average El Salvadorean (IIRC)).
Re:Call Me a Tin-Foil Hatter but... (Score:2, Funny)
There's lots of reasons for this (Score:5, Interesting)
Interesting anecdote, however it's actually slightly offtopic. If you check TFA it's actually mostly talking about boys. The victimization in this case is not the rape (or date rape) that you assume. It's about teens getting beaten up, or stabbed in knife fights, etc.
Makes sense, if you think about it. Men, particularly young-ish men, perceive similarly-aged men as rivals, especially where women are present. If you believe a rival is younger than you, you might figure "he's just a little punk" and use your apparent seniority to browbeat him into backing down. If you think he's your same age, on the other hand, you might decide that a more drastic form of "correction" is necessary. At the same time, he might also tend to react less predictably -- being young, he feels like he has more to prove. The whole situation escalates much more rapidly than a confrontation between true peers and quickly turns to violence.
According to TFA though, the main factor that helps early puberty boys avoid this phenomenon is having a lot of female friends.
Re:There's lots of reasons for this (Score:2)
Another theory I've heard is that because of the high rate of single parenting in the U.S., girls in single-parent households are more likely to be exposed to males who are not related by blood. Apparently, this exposure to males not related by blood increases the rate of puberty. Not sure how much BS this is, but nonetheless it's interesting.
Hair care products theory (Score:4, Informative)
Re:There's lots of reasons for this (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, either:
A) Non-stop sex
or
B) Being homosexual
will solve this problem completely...
Re:There's lots of reasons for this (Score:3, Insightful)
Only then I realized that being gay in high school was never a real good way to avoid getting beat up. Or being gay and walking down the street in a lot of cities in America, for that matter.
Re:Call Me a Tin-Foil Hatter but... (Score:2)
Re:Call Me a Tin-Foil Hatter but... (Score:2)
Re:Call Me a Tin-Foil Hatter but... (Score:2)
As for proof, there isn't much research done in this area, at least directly relating to humans. I imagine it wouldn't make someone too popular (or more importantly attract funding) to tell people who likely had kids at a young age that having those kids at an earlier age not only opened them up to early-puberty troubles but also potentially shortened their overall lifespans. If it were (or was) done, you can bet various groups would
Re:Call Me a Tin-Foil Hatter but... (Score:3, Funny)
Uh, dude, my (admittedly overweight) house-cat eats more meat than me. And I'm no vegetarian (nor an El Salvadorean (IIRC)).
Brings a whole new meaning to... (Score:2)
Re:Call Me a Tin-Foil Hatter but... (Score:2)
Especially for Girls... (Score:2, Interesting)
Image problems (Score:5, Interesting)
In early high school, she had problems with her sexuality, related to her depression & self image she didn't care what she did & ended up becoming sexually active more out of lack of care, she had been taught about it but because of her traumatic time of enterting puberty early it had made her self-destructive.
Hitting puberty early can increase the risk of early exposure to sex, but the biggest factor is the lack of education provided to people, my friend had explained what had happened to her & that it was normal but it didn't help that nearly everybody else didn't have puberty explained properly for another few years, it was all a big joke but to my friend it was serious and if everyone had been educated a little earlier she may have not had the problems later in life.
Re:Image problems (Score:2)
Then again, having sex being as taboo a subject as it is, probably doesn't help things.
Re:Image problems (Score:2)
But then again..the ones NOT going through puberty yet might well just be a little confused. "Am I slow? Why isn't this happening to me yet?"
Re:Image problems (Score:2)
The opposite is true also (Score:5, Interesting)
I refer all queries to the outstanding Tv series Freaks and Geeks.
There are some advantages (Score:3, Interesting)
It isn't uniformly that way. It depends on the nature of the filtering process. A counter example is kids who come into school already reading. Their advantage is gone by grade 4. Why? All kids pass into the next grade so there is no filtering process.
So, is early onset puberty an advantage? It depends (doesn't everything).
Re:There are some advantages (Score:2)
Care to provide a statistic for that? Seems counter-intuitive to me. If a kid comes into grade 1 already knowing how to read, that kid probably likes to read, which seems likely to be a lifelong advantage, education-wise.
Re:There are some advantages (Score:2)
Huh?
Care to explain that? Because my experience has been exactly the opposite. And I've heard a lot of stuff that would seem to suggest that children who learn to read earlier, tend to do better in school, and this success in elementary school translates on do
Re:There are some advantages (Score:2)
Re:There are some advantages (Score:3)
College level. Now if you read before Kindergarten and then just STOP, maybe you'll lose it. But I doubt any kid that was reading at 3 would let that gift go.
But isn't late puberty worse? (Score:5, Insightful)
Being really small, geeky and awkward made me a target. I would have rather been 5'10" 200lbs at 12 with a 5 o-clock shadow than at 20, would have made Jr. High and High school so much easier.
Re:But isn't late puberty worse? (Score:4, Insightful)
Pretty much anything that makes you different will get you made fun of, actually.
Re:But isn't late puberty worse? (Score:2)
Since there is no absolute normal, it sounds like your argument applies to everyone -- to be alive and exist with others means that one will be teased, and probably tease others too.
Re:But isn't late puberty worse? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:But isn't late puberty worse? (Score:3, Insightful)
No, it wouldn't. I'm 6'9", 273lbs, started early on puberty (and sex) and growing up still wasn't easy, despite being the tallest, broadest boy in the class. Extra points for the first to dig up a snide remark about being tall I haven't heard a gazillion times before. It's not about size.
WTF (Score:5, Insightful)
I know people who act like children even in their 30s and 10 year olds who act like adults. Puberty early wouldn't do anything to the later type, the first type on the other hand still act like children after hitting it.. so no, early puberty doesn't "damage you", being too immature to handle it damages you.
Which is exactly what TFA said (Score:2)
while TFA already said exactly that:
Still there was a lot worse from all those who wr
What the article overlooked (Score:5, Funny)
In related news... (Score:4, Funny)
Whatever's in the milk/meat - keep consuming it!!
Re:In related news... (Score:2)
Sorry, I couldn't resist (Score:5, Funny)
Ow. Man, if the older kids weren't enough, even nature's against you.
Seriously though, this is llllllllaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeee. Not tech, not interesting, obvious to anyone who gives it a moment's though, not conclusive or precise, and pointless money grabbing "research" by staticians instead of docs or shrinks specializing in child development. This is
Okay, that was sarcastic, if I didn't love
Eddie Izzard (Score:5, Funny)
Um, no duh? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Um, no duh? (Score:2)
.
Um, never mind.
What do you mean early?!?!? (Score:3, Interesting)
Given that in many societies, you became an adult at 13. We can assume this happened because that is historically the age that MOST people have gone through puberty. That being the case, how can you call 11 "early". 8, yes is early, but not unheard of. 11 doesn't even count. The correct way of putting it would be that kids who are first in their peer group to hit puberty..yada..yada..yada. Of course the only two ways to prevent anyone from being first is to either do something that prevents puberty all together, (i.e. kill them first, or severe hormon treatments) or to prevent purberty medically long enought to dose all kids at the last day of the 6th grade, so they all come back in the 7th, having already hit puberty together.
I will kill anyone that tries either one on my kid.
Honestly, most of the problems these kids have (or at least enough to make the statistics show as they do) have to do with parents inability to accept that their child is growing up. It's so much easier to deny that your 11 year old is now an adult when all of the other kids in their class are still children.
Re:What do you mean early?!?!? (Score:2)
Except that would be an incorrect assumption. It was historically not uncommon for women to start having periods as late as 15 or 16. In 1830, it was approximately 15.5, depending on the population sampled. Even as recently as 1928, the average (c=10,000) age at menarche was 13.9 years. Today, it's around 12.6. (See various studies here [mum.org].) That seems like a fairly significant decline to me.
This earlie
Did you read your links? (Score:2)
Bull. I hit puberty late. Here are my observations (Score:5, Informative)
The only yang to that yin that I can come up with is that I'm now 6'2", the guy who I was always jealous of who got laid at 12 is now 30 with a nice beer gut and half bald (and looks 38), and I have to sort of beat off the women now. I'm 33 and everyone says I look 26. At my 10 year reunion I was like the skinniest guy there. So maybe it's related to an aging-speed thing. Both my sister and I absolutely look younger than our peers now (but some of that might have to do with me living the bachelor life and trying to look good).
But damn, the cost was high. I tried playing sports with neighborhood kids growing up but invariably I would get bloodied up, which then turned me off from team sports completely (I played tennis and rode my bike instead). I'm a really social guy now (and some team sports are OK) but from 7th-10th grade I was so shellshocked that I barely had a friend and spent most of my time indoors hacking away on a computer (Microsoft Basic on a Mac Plus, lol) with my mom yelling at me to go outside (caught between a rock and a hard place).
So perhaps being any kind of outlier is more painful in general.
It happened to a friend of my sister's... (Score:5, Interesting)
"She is 12 years old, is a friend of your sister's and she already has enough trouble."
I saw a beautiful woman. She was no such thing: A 12-year old girl, and had already been the target of multiple, completely inappropriate advances by men and boys. She and my sister remained friends for several years, and by the time she was in college, she had already been hurt in too many ways.
These studies of early puberty are not stupid, they are needed in the context of a society that fails to protect its children.
Re:It happened to a friend of my sister's... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:It happened to a friend of my sister's... (Score:4, Interesting)
Like your stereotypical geek, when I'm around women I find attractive I tend to get nervous, timid and utterly pathetic. I am simply incapable of talking to them without making myself sound like a complete and total moron. So I don't think it's much of a shock that I haven't dated much, and when I do it's usually well intentioned friends who try to set me up on blind dates that never end well.
That doesn't stop me from looking because once in a long while I will meet a woman whom I find irresistible yet am still able to be completely comfortable and full of confidence around. It really doesn't happen that often (8 times in fifteen years), but when it does it's great. Unfortunately I haven't met one yet that wasn't already in a strong committed relationship. Well that is until I met this girl.
It was just under two years ago when I was 30. I decided to go to this Japanese restaurant I'd read good things about. When I walked in, there she was and almost right away I was taken with her. Since I used to work in a restaurant, I sympathize with what they go through so I tend to be relaxed and friendly with the staff. It paid off, because she spent a lot of time at my table. We got along so well, I decided to go back the next week. Every Thursday over the next few weeks I got to know her better as she spent a fair bit of time at my table. She's very independent and knows what she wants out of life, working two jobs along with studying hard to get it; she's strong willed, highly intelligent, smart, and has real genuine passion towards her interests and learning new ones.
Not only did she appear to be into me, the best part was, not once throughout the entire six weeks (I gave her ample opportunity) I spent getting to know her did she mention a boyfriend. I just simply couldn't believe my luck. My family had wanted to see this girl I'd been raving about, (the food is *very* good there, so it wasn't a stretch to take them in) they all got along extremely well and absolutely adored her.
I had finally worked up the courage and was *this* close to asking her out when she dropped the bomb. You see, the whole time I'd been getting to know her I was certain she was in her early to mid twenties. She was way too mature and together in the head to be anything but. She looked early twenties, she acted early twenties and was mature like early twenties. I was convinced she was early twenties, my family was convinced she was early twenties and while that's normally a bit younger than what I go for, I was convinced it could work and that she was worth the effort.
I never once thought to ask how old she was. Nothing she said or did the whole time I'd spent getting to know her pointed to or could have prepared me for her real age. I'm think she knew the embarrassment it would cause me if I asked her out and she had to turn me down, so she worked it into the conversation and told me how old she was.
17
Not a clue. My family didn't guess, my sister who can spot a fake ID carrying teeny-bopper a 100 yards away (she used to work in a group home, lots of experience) didn't guess. But most importantly I didn't guess and I was devastated. Here was a girl that was utterly perfect for me in just about every way I could think of and she was 13 years my junior. I could have probably pushed for it, I could tell she liked me, but it just wouldn't have been right to press for it. No matter how much I wanted it to happen, I couldn't be that selfish guy who would try to force her into an adult relationship that would deny her her "best years" (I didn't do any fun stuff or grow as a person until my late teens early twenties.).
So I did the only thing I could. I let it go.
I still go there (the food *is* good) but I usually avoid her shift. No sense picking at it needlessly. Although, every once in a while she or I will change our day. We're always happy to see one another and it gives us time to
Re:It happened to a friend of my sister's... (Score:3, Insightful)
I also think that in our mod
Re:It happened to a friend of my sister's... (Score:3, Interesting)
A pity she never realised that it only takes a few makeup tricks and the right clothes to make you look either years younger or years older.
If she was a 12 year old, who looked like a 20 year old, then she was only exaserbating the problem by walking around in a 20 year olds apparel.
A study just like modern medicine -- misguided (Score:2, Interesting)
Many studies have shown that due to the fact that all the hormones which are fed to the plant
Exercise tends to delay puberty (Score:2, Interesting)
Maybe this will wake up some parents. A lot of kids these days get too little exercise anyway.
Early? Late? What's the difference? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:So if the inverse is true (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah... (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, I'm sure that'll guard us against the evil that lurks within our mothers' basements!
Re:My torpedos made me do it! (Score:5, Insightful)
I know, I am a girl, I went through it all. :p High school wasn't hell, people became somewhat civilized (in a small sort of way) when the top grade was composed of 18 year olds instead of 13/14 year olds, but middle school was.
Re:My torpedos made me do it! (Score:2)
Re:My torpedos made me do it! (Score:3, Funny)
Middle school (Score:2)
The least pleasant years of K-12, definitely.
Re:My torpedos made me do it! (Score:2)
And if my memory is correct, while everybody en
Re:Connectivity effect? (Score:2)