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Science News

Early Puberty Often More Hazardous 258

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the introverted-computer-geek-solves-that-problem dept.
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."
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Early Puberty Often More Hazardous More

Early Puberty Often More Hazardous

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  • Me (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mozk ( 844858 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @09:26PM (#14656178)
    It seemed like I hit puberty way earlier than my peers. I remember in 4th or 5th grade having a deep voice (has not gotten deeper since...) and being taller than the other kids. Now everybody is about as tall as me. Contrary to the article however, I saw myself as being mature and being able to handle fights, drugs, and relationships. It's mostly just in your mind in my opinion. If you think you're bigger and better than the other kids than that's your problem (or it could be nature's way of dealing with things).

  • Dumb. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Mancat ( 831487 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @09:27PM (#14656187) Homepage
    Oh look. Another fluff study done almost entirely by statisticians so that they could suck up grant money and waste my tax dollars. Really important research you're doing there, guys. Children entering puberty at an early age MIGHT get into fights or have sex more early? So what? When did our society define the age at which these acts should first occur? I must have missed that.

    • Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Funny)

      by cmdr_beeftaco ( 562067 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @09:29PM (#14656200)
      It's 12, didn't you get the memo?

    • Re:Dumb. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Dachannien ( 617929 )
      When did our society define the age at which these acts should first occur?

      I think the point is that self-destructive acts aren't ever supposed to occur at all.

      • Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by mrchaotica ( 681592 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @10:27PM (#14656558)
        Since when was sex a "self-destructive act?!"

        • Re:Dumb. (Score:3, Interesting)

          by c_forq ( 924234 )
          Sex in itself isn't. But sex that results in a child or a disease transmission... especially when most of your peers can't even produce children...

        • Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Funny)

          by vertinox ( 846076 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @11:13PM (#14656843)
          Since when was sex a "self-destructive act?!"

          Only when it burns when you pee.
        • You mean your hand doesn't get chafed too?

    • Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Jesapoo ( 929240 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @10:11PM (#14656464)
      "When did our society define the age at which these acts should first occur?" Er... I'm pretty sure there are laws in most countries about the 'age of consent' - the minimum age at which sex is permitted. The law is the most obvious way that "society" has to show when these acts are acceptable. Laws exist against drug use and violence, too, although these are more commonly *never* 'socially' acceptable (i.e. the blanket illegality of heroin or GBH, rather than an acceptable age) Of course, what "society" finds acceptable is a rather wooly term. In the UK for instance, it is illegal for people under the age of 16 to smoke and for under 18s to drink alcohol. However, some people view this as overly restrictive - hence why there is such an issue of underage drinking, as well as smoking and sex. If the entirety of society viewed it as a total taboo, it wouldn't happen as much. An example of this is the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy. Years ago, a young girl getting pregnant, particularly without being married, was a major society no-no, and was less common. Nowadays, 14- and 15-year-old single mothers are freely open about this. Drug use is another area where "society" and the law are sometimes at odds - for instance, there is a notable minority of people who think marijuana should be legalised. What I would have thought would have been a much more useful piece of research would be to find out at what age different people engage in these activities, and relating that not only to the age at which they hit puberty, but also things like social and ethnic groups. But then, I'd be surprised if this research has not been done beforehand.

      • Re:Dumb. (Score:3, Informative)

        by Kjella ( 173770 )
        "When did our society define the age at which these acts should first occur?" Er... I'm pretty sure there are laws in most countries about the 'age of consent' - the minimum age at which sex is permitted.

        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
    • I believe pregnacy in anyone less than 14-15 is dangerous. Some MD come and correct me, please.

      • Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Mr2001 ( 90979 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @10:19PM (#14656513) Homepage Journal
        Thankfully, we live in an age when sex doesn't have to lead to pregnancy unless you want it to.

      • Re:Dumb. (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Ruff_ilb ( 769396 )
        IANAMD, but...
        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:3, Insightful)

      by Mad_Rain ( 674268 )
      Another fluff study done almost entirely by statisticians so that they could suck up grant money and waste my tax dollars.

      I think you should write the researchers and demand your $0.00001 back.

    • Re:Dumb. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dr.badass ( 25287 ) on Tuesday February 07, 2006 @12:49AM (#14657451) Homepage
      So what? When did our society define the age at which these acts should first occur? I must have missed that.

      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".

    • 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)

    by Janitha ( 817744 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @09:28PM (#14656188) Homepage
    So I take its like placing a beta release in a production enviornment.
    • No that can't be a good comparison. Microsoft software usually takes far longer to reach beta than most of it's peers. :)

    • Thank you (Score:5, Funny)

      by ZachPruckowski ( 918562 ) <zachary.pruckowski@gmail.com> on Monday February 06, 2006 @09:46PM (#14656317)
      So I take its like placing a beta release in a production enviornment.
      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)

        by st1d ( 218383 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @10:03PM (#14656425) Homepage
        Oh come on, the average Slashdotter is more than capable of Googling the definition of obscure words like those. It only took me a couple minutes and a similar number of websites before I developed a fair understanding of what they refer to, and the largest portion of that time was getting around the nannyware my parents put on this computer. You'd think they'd stop bugging me with that stuff, now that I'm over 30. :)

      • Re:Thank you (Score:3, Funny)

        by Firehed ( 942385 )
        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.

        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)

    by Kickboy12 ( 913888 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @09:30PM (#14656213) Homepage
    I thought most of this was pretty obvious. Doesn't take a scientific study to figure these things out.
    • those with a higher proportion of female friends appeared to be less likely to experience subsequent victimization.

      In other words, teenage girls shoot, stab and beat you up less often than boys do.

      /slaps forehead
  • Uhm, why is this appearing on a tech media blog?
    • Uhm, why is this appearing on a tech media blog?

      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 ?

    • Because the summary mentioned the word "sex". Even though it means the same as gender given the context; but, there it is, "sex" and suddenly it's definitely "news for nerds".

    • Re:News for nerds? Stuff that matters? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by utexaspunk ( 527541 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @10:37PM (#14656627)
      What part of "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." implies that this site is just about tech? Nerds find all sorts of things interesting. I'm a nerd, and I find it interesting.
    • You must be new here. Median /.er age: 11-12.
    • It's science. Social science, true, but it may be "hard" science nonetheless. I certainly have a lot of respect for one researcher in this field: Dan Olweus at the University of Bergen. He approached bullying in "hard" scientific ways, and made an anti-bullying program. In a comparison with a dozen other similar programs which teachers thought would work, his was the only one with a statistically significant effect.

      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)

    by MightyMait ( 787428 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @09:32PM (#14656236) Journal
    Read "Diet for a New America" by John Robbins for an interesting view on this (and all sorts of other diet-related issues). He contends that all the hormones we're feeding our dairy cattle as well as meat animals are contributing to earlier puberty (he was citing 8 year-olds developing breasts, etc.).

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0915811812/103-44 66893-7535803?v=glance&n=283155 [amazon.com]

    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)).
    • Eight year olds, dude.

    • There's lots of reasons for this (Score:5, Interesting)

      by PCM2 ( 4486 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @09:53PM (#14656357) Homepage
      There are all sorts of reasons for early puberty in women. One study found that black girls seemed to be hitting puberty earlier at a much more rapid rate than white girls. Investigation revealed that some of the hair care products commonly used to straighten black girls' hair were responsible, believe it or not. The chemicals in those products, when combined with other environmental factors, would create synthetic estrogens in the girls' bloodstreams, causing them to begin to develop breasts and pubic hair at really young ages (like 5). When the use of the products was discontinued, the breast tissue would disappear and the pubic hair fell out.

      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.
      • Interesting - haven't heard the hair care products theory before.

        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.

      • Re:There's lots of reasons for this (Score:5, Funny)

        by evilviper ( 135110 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @11:32PM (#14656966) Journal
        According to TFA though, the main factor that helps early puberty boys avoid this phenomenon is having a lot of female friends.

        Yes, either:

        A) Non-stop sex
        or
        B) Being homosexual

        will solve this problem completely...
        • Haha ... I'm with you there dude, I was actually going to make a crack about the gay guy having all the female friends too.

          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. :-\
    • Early onset of puberty may be related to diet in general, altogether separate from bovine hormones. It's known [nih.gov] that obese children typically reach puberty earlier than children of normal weight.

    • Might be the cattle hormones, but I lean more toward the theory that the children of younger parents tend to mature earlier than those of parents who were 30-40+, especially when it's compounded by multiple generations. That said, I think there are a lot more people with a cattle-like mindset today, which might have something to do with the aforementioned dairy hormones. :)
    • Had all sorts of gems (like the fact that the average American house-cat eats more meat than the average El Salvadorean (IIRC)).

      Uh, dude, my (admittedly overweight) house-cat eats more meat than me. And I'm no vegetarian (nor an El Salvadorean (IIRC)).

    • ..."tastes like chicken!" ;-)
    • I'm too lazy to find any source right now, but I've also heard about it being tied to obesity - Basicly, your body thinks you have enough resources (ie body mass) to start puberty. Usually, you would not attain this until the "right" time. (This wasn't linked to VERY early puberty, just by a few years off average range)
  • This would be especially so for girls, and all that comes along with puberty. Boys have a tendency to deflect physical changes more, because of the "cool" factor... (and the increased physical strength... ;) Of course it is physically hazardous to be a late-bloomer and a boy...

  • Image problems (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Freaky Spook ( 811861 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @09:40PM (#14656284)
    I think this is more a problem with girls, then it is with boys, when I was 9 a female friend of mine began puberty very early, she started developing breasts & began her period, for her the next couple of years were very traumatic as she was victimised by other girls & picked on by boys because of her funny bodily changes, entering high school she was extremly depressed & paranoid about herself.

    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.
    • Yes, it would be nice if we lived in a culture where puberty was celebrated... Maybe not celebrated to the point where those who are late bloomers start to have problems for being late bloomers though....

      Then again, having sex being as taboo a subject as it is, probably doesn't help things.
    • and if everyone had been educated a little earlier she may have not had the problems later in life.

      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?"

    • Much the same thing happened to a friend of the family. When I was 20, she was 12 and 5'8". By 13 she was 5'11", had filled out and had the hips, breasts and walk of any awesome college 20 year old. Her peers weren't as much trouble as the constant attention from older guys, anywhere from 20 to 40 or more and in every kind of social situation. This is a kid who wasn't even a teenager a year before, and was propositioned daily. She looked older and more mature than me, yet still acted every bit the young kid

  • The opposite is true also (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Illserve ( 56215 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @09:45PM (#14656309)
    Hitting puberty early may not be a picnic, but hitting it late is no walk in the park either.

    I refer all queries to the outstanding Tv series Freaks and Geeks.

  • There are some advantages (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 06, 2006 @09:48PM (#14656329)
    Some advantages to being bigger than your peers are easy to document statistically. If you are born in certain months of the year, you are more likely to get into the NHL for instance. Why? The age limits for the childrens' hockey leagues cut off at a certain month. Some kids entering the league are almost a year older and bigger than others. The bigger, older kids perform better and get the breaks. They go on to the next league and the advantage holds all the way up to the professional league. So, if we assume that talent is evenly distributed, we have a case where an early advantage in size/maturity trumps talent.

    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).

    • 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.

      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.

    • 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.

      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
    • Conversely, I was taller than most kids my age, so I got shoved into basketball, despite never done more than take a couple shots at a basket before. Meanwhile, my peers had been playing for years (7th grade), so I was the tall guy, but couldn't shoot, move the ball well, etc. Certainly I would have improved, had I kept pushing to learn, but it wasn't something I chose, it was chosen for me. As a result, I had to deal with both the problems inherent with being a poor player, as well as those inherent wit
    • My advantage certainly wasn't gone... the last time (and the time they stopped, by the way) I took a reading test was 8th grade, and the results came back "13+"

      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)

    by t0qer ( 230538 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @09:49PM (#14656338) Homepage Journal
    I started growing pubic hairs around 14, voice dropped around 18 and didn't really start getting tall or facial hair till around 20.

    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)

      by PCM2 ( 4486 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @09:58PM (#14656385) Homepage
      No it wouldn't. Seriously; there's a couple of those "beard-y" guys in every 8th grade class and they get made fun of, too.

      Pretty much anything that makes you different will get you made fun of, actually.
      • Pretty much anything that makes you different will get you made fun of, actually.

        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.

    • Best is when puberty happens while you're out of town sometime during summer vacation when you're 13. Anything else is suboptimal.
    • 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.

      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)

    by Turn-X Alphonse ( 789240 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @10:00PM (#14656408) Journal
    So in other words wanting to get laid makes you get rejected earlier.. and makes you do all the things everyone does when they hit puberty..

    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.
    • Apparently based only on the /. summary, a poster concluded:

      (...) so no, early puberty doesn't "damage you", being too immature to handle it damages you.

      while TFA already said exactly that:

      Socializing with older people "places these kids in difficult situations that they may not be cognitively able to handle," Piquero said, explaining that, although a 13-year-old may start hanging out with a 16-year-old, he or she "may not be at the 16-year-old level yet."

      Still there was a lot worse from all those who wr

  • They failed to mention that teenagers who reach puberty early are less likely to know Javascript or how to use two cellphones to cook an egg.

  • In related news... (Score:4, Funny)

    by TriZz ( 941893 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @10:08PM (#14656454)
    It has been proven that hitting puberty early also helps to keep Michael Jackson from trying to befriend you. The long term effects of this are the lack of court appearances and ruined childhood.

    Whatever's in the milk/meat - keep consuming it!!

  • Sorry, I couldn't resist (Score:5, Funny)

    by kadathseeker ( 937789 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @10:22PM (#14656533) Homepage
    In Soviet Russia, pubery hits you!

    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 /., not a tabloid. We have standards and expectations of our staff of expert editors - not administators, heavens no, this is a very fine and respected company with a reputation of outstanding journalism.

    Okay, that was sarcastic, if I didn't love /. I'd have a life. That doesn't mean I don't think it could improve either.

  • Eddie Izzard (Score:5, Funny)

    by mr100percent ( 57156 ) * on Monday February 06, 2006 @10:26PM (#14656553) Homepage Journal
    "...So you're just noticing members of the sex: "Girls girls, ooo". Naturally you want to look your best, and God says "No! You will look the worst you've ever looked in your life!""

  • Um, no duh? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Khaed ( 544779 )
    Any big or noticable difference is going to cause problems with a bunch of kids. They have a herd mind a lot of the time. This seems like a no brainer: Puberty changes a whole beowulf cluster of things about you, and if you're the first in your peer group, then there's a significant chance that the immaturity and herd-mindedness will cause you problems. It has nothing to do with society or anything else, just peer pressure and the attitude of kids/teens.

  • What do you mean early?!?!? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Belial6 ( 794905 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @10:44PM (#14656656)
    "The current findings are based on data from nearly 7,000, 11- to 15-year-olds from 132 schools across the country."

    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.
    • We can assume this happened because that is historically the age that MOST people have gone through puberty.

      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 the page you linked to? It is loaded with a ton of data that shows 13 has in fact been the historic avarge for starting menstration in girls. The few examples that showed it as being higher were countered on the same page as being improperly conducted studies. I know that some people really want the age of adulthood to be greater than it is and always has been, but please, if your going to link to data, link to something that supports your theory.

  • Bull. I hit puberty late. Here are my observations (Score:5, Informative)

    by 5n3ak3rp1mp ( 305814 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @11:17PM (#14656871) Homepage
    I was always below average in height relative to my male peers growing up. I got pubes late, I didn't have to shave until I was 17, my voice changed late, women noticed me late, guys picked on me... basically, my testosterone kicked in way later than it might have ideally and it was a real pain in the ass for me, actually. I didn't date until after high school and I didn't have sex until 21. I was surprised when women finally started noticing me because I had gotten to the point where I assumed I would stay mostly invisible.

    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)

    by lenski ( 96498 ) on Monday February 06, 2006 @11:18PM (#14656876)
    I returned to my parents' place for a weekend visit one year, and next to my sister... Behold! A 6' 2" real live woman! (I was a 21 year old geek and all too aware that are too few girls my size, this could be good...) So I asked my mother who the babysitter was, and was she single? Replied my dear mum, "Don't get any ideas. Period. You will make no remarks, no comments, nothing. You got it?" Oh why, says I...

    "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.
    • I know what you're talking about. I'm 22. When I was 20, I worked at a camp, and one of the other counselors was 15. I didn't realize this right away because not only did she LOOK my age...in every way...she ACTED like it. She was more mature than most of my female peers, down to earth, etc. I was about to ask her out, and found out she was 15. Part of me thought "hey, who cares if she's 15 if she looks and more importantly acts like she's 20". But then I realized "its still illegal, and you don't kn

      • Re:It happened to a friend of my sister's... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by WCLPeter ( 202497 ) on Tuesday February 07, 2006 @03:19AM (#14658047) Homepage
        I know how you feel. I'm 32 and recently went through the same thing.

        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
    • Happened to me too. In the grand scheme of things, I don't even think I hit puberty all that early, but I was one of the first in my class to mature. Suddenly, I was getting attention from the opposite sex that I was not the slightest bit prepared to deal with. It made me so uncomfortable that I became anorexic because I was desperate to stop maturing and keep my little girl body. I didn't understand what was happening to me, and I didn't have anybody to help guide me through it.

      I also think that in our mod
    • 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.

      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.
  • It is interesting to see how much energy and time modern research (whether that be humanities or sciences) spends on studying symptoms and/or repercussions, without too much concern over the actual cause. Just like the modern medicine which is still predominantly a cut'n'paste job (think: a butcher with a pain-numbing injection), this study focuses on the repercussions of something that may very well be preventable.

    Many studies have shown that due to the fact that all the hormones which are fed to the plant
  • Can't quote a reference, but I have read somewhere that getting lots of exercise tends to delay the onset of puberty, at least in girls.

    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)

    by Quinn_Inuit ( 760445 ) <Quinn_Inuit@nOSpAm.yahoo.com> on Tuesday February 07, 2006 @12:44AM (#14657418)
    So hitting puberty early makes other kids go after you, and hitting it late makes them go after you. Maybe the study should have been entitled "Children Still Being Mean To Anyone Who Is In Any Way Different."

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