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Study: Nuturing Home Life Delays Puberty

Posted on: Friday, 16 November 2007, 18:00 CST

Greater support from mothers and fathers and less marital conflict and depression can lead to later onset of puberty in girls, a U.S. study found.

Researchers at the University of Arizona and the University of Wisconsin-Madison sought to test and extend a 1991 model, developed by researcher Jay Belsky and colleagues, of the role of family ecology in speeding up or slowing down puberty in young girls.

Belsky's theory said children adaptively adjust their sexual development in response to the conditions -- stressors -- in which they live. Stressors include marital conflict, negativity and coercion in parent-child relationships and lack of support between parents and children.

Lead author Bruce J. Ellis of the University of Arizona and colleagues tracked 227 preschool children until puberty of 120 of the children.

The study, published in the journal Child Development, found higher levels of support in family relationships in preschool predict lower levels of pubertal maturation in daughters in the seventh grade.

Early puberty in girls has been associated with mood disorders, substance abuse, adolescent pregnancy and cancers of the reproductive system.

Source: United Press International

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