Early Puberty Often More Hazardous

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."

Comments

Me

[Mozk]

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).

Re:So if the inverse is true

[Anonymous Coward]

Thats why I haven't been raped by a group of hot cheerleaders yet...

Dumb.

[Mancat]

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.

[cmdr_beeftaco]

It's 12, didn't you get the memo?

Re:Dumb.

[Jesapoo]

"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.

[Mr2001]

Thankfully, we live in an age when sex doesn't have to lead to pregnancy unless you want it to.

Re:Dumb.

[Eli Gottlieb]

Except of course, in those places that restrict selling condoms and birth-control pills to youth.

Re:Dumb.

[mrchaotica]

Since when was sex a "self-destructive act?!"

Re:Dumb.

[vertinox]

Since when was sex a "self-destructive act?!"

Only when it burns when you pee.

Re:Dumb.

[dr.badass]

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".

Re:Dumb.

[heinousjay]

That's why the FSM intelligently designed the anus to substitute. Ain't no one birthin no ass babies.

Re:Dumb.

[winwar]

"Sex for pre-teens and early teens is absolutely self destructive. They don't fully appreciate the consequences of their actions,..."

Well, I'm glad that adults don't have that problem. :)

Re:Dumb.

[Mr2001]

Sex for pre-teens and early teens is absolutely self destructive. They don't fully appreciate the consequences of their actions, and the result many times is an early pregnancy, and with it for the girls, the stigma of being a young mother or the slut who had the abortion.

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.

[Greg_D]

You contradicted exactly not a fucking thing I said.

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 isn't a pseudo-argument to say that kids fucking as early teens is a thing that isn't good for society. It's a fact. No amount of sex education changes that fact. Kids aren't given adult responsibilities because they don't handle them very well. They tend to go for the immediate gratification instead of thinking things through. Hell, most adults don't handle adult responsibility very well, and it's only through seeing enough of their peers fuck up that they actually get it. There's a huge difference between knowing a bunch of facts and learning something.

STDs? Virgins aren't exactly a major carrier. 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. Fucking? Hell yeah! Fucking feels good and makes little Billy feel like a man and gives him a small amount of emotional control over little Suzie. Who needs all those facts when you can play trailer trash roulette?

Re:Dumb.

[Mr2001]

The consequences of smoking and drinking aren't that hard to grasp either, yet children tend to flock to both when given a chance.

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.

[Peeteriz]

In my country, 14 year old Susie has easy access to free condoms.
  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.

Beta.

[Janitha]

So I take its like placing a beta release in a production enviornment.

News?

[Kickboy12]

I thought most of this was pretty obvious. Doesn't take a scientific study to figure these things out.

Call Me a Tin-Foil Hatter but...

[MightyMait]

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

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)).

Image problems

[Freaky Spook]

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.

The opposite is true also

[Illserve]

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.

Thank you

[ZachPruckowski]

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

[st1d]

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. :)

There are some advantages

[Anonymous Coward]

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).

But isn't late puberty worse?

[t0qer]

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?

[PCM2]

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.

Re:But isn't late puberty worse?

[burne]

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.

There's lots of reasons for this

[PCM2]

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.

Re:There's lots of reasons for this

[evilviper]

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...

Re:My torpedos made me do it!

[LadyVirharper]

You're obviously not a girl. Girls are fucking vicious to anyone they percieve as different, especially at the pre-teen and early teen middle-school stage, when they're still young enough to be casually cruel and "not know" (some do, some don't) they're out of line, but old enough to have the knowledge to think up things that really cut.

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.

WTF

[Turn-X Alphonse]

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.

What the article overlooked

[serutan]

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...

[TriZz]

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!!

Hair care products theory

[PCM2]

Here's a link to an article about the hair care products. It says the research is not conclusive, but rather suspicious. Apparently about half of all black girls in the United States start developing secondary sex characteristics before age 8 (yikes! didn't know that), while the rate is much lower for black girls in other parts of the world (e.g. Africa).

Sorry, I couldn't resist

[kadathseeker]

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

[mr100percent]

"...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!""

Re:News for nerds? Stuff that matters?

[utexaspunk]

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.

Bull. I hit puberty late. Here are my observations

[5n3ak3rp1mp]

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...

[lenski]

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.

Re:It happened to a friend of my sister's...

[WCLPeter]

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

Re:It happened to a friend of my sister's...

[jacquems]

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 modern, technological society, we take our bodies for granted and don't give much thought to how they work. We tend to forget how much our biology influences our actions (often in ways that are not obvious). I recently got a demonstration of this when I started a new job. I noticed that I felt very competitive with the other women in the office. At the same time, I found myself subconsciously evaluating the attractiveness of the men around me. When I spent a few days distracted by what seemed to me like the intoxicating scent a visiting employee's cologne, I started wondering what on earth was happening to me. It was like going through puberty all over again. Then it finally dawned on me: my daughter weaned last summer, and my body was telling me it was time to look for a mate and have another baby. I was basically a victim of my own hormones.

So yes, I do think this is an appropriate topic for /. Biology is a science after all, and human biology in particular is an area that is not as widely understood as it could be.

Captain Obvious

[StarKruzr]

If you're just under or around 14 or 15, you're probably thinking "OMIGOD I'M GONNA GET LAID!"