New research has supported earlier theories on how puberty in girls is tied to the social workings of the family. Girls with supportive parents who have a loving relationship themselves, and a stable home life, will begin puberty later.
Early puberty has been verified as a risk factor for substance abuse, mood disorders, teen pregnancy and cancers of the reproductive system.
Dr. Ellis of Arizona University and Marilyn Essex of the University of Wisconsin followed close to 200 children from preschool to 7th grade. They tested girls in 1st grade for the initial workings of their adrenal glands, then again in 7th grade. Through meetings with mothers and daughters, evidence of puberty was obtained from responses to diagrams that depicted different stages of puberty.
The study also showed that fathers who were not depressed contributed to their daughter’s delayed puberty. This corresponds to Dr. Ellis’s 1999 study which showed that the father’s positive involvement in the early stages of a girls life (ages 1-5) usually resulted in a later puberty.
