Not all social problems have sociological causes
I've mentioned the need for two incomes is a bigger drag on the ability to raise kids the way Americans want them to be than any lack of interest or ability on the part of the parents. There are other, more fundamental challenges to tradition that aren't being looked at. I decided to write a bit about one when Janine at startle the echoes mentioned that her daughter has reached a milestone.
My daughter is not alone. Girls are getting their periods at eight and nine. Ten has become a norm. I don't know how everyone deals with it, especially with the stress of school and work. There's no time to talk. There's no real continuity. Out in the morning and see you again in the evening, hurry up and finish your homework so you can eat and head to bed. Argh.
Good point.
I would like to suggest that a major source of the changes social conservatives abhor is our biology.
Boys and girls now experience puberty at younger ages than previous generations. In general, girls enter puberty between ages 8 and 13 and reach menarche (first menstruation) several years later, while boys enter puberty between ages 9 and 14. The reasons for earlier menarche in girls are not well understood. Most of the change is attributed to better health and nutrition. In North America age at menarche decreased by three to four months each decade after 1850; in 1988 the median age at menarche was 12.5 years among US girls. In some developing countries age at menarche appears to be decreasing even faster. For example, in Kenya average age at menarche fell from 14.4 in the late 1970s to 12.9 in the 1980s (185).
It's long been established that our brains aren't finished developing for quite a while after we're born. And we also know our brains are shaped by what they experiences as they develop.
Consider the impact of being awash in sex hormones on a brain as plastic as a ten year old's. Or an eight year old's?
Received wisdom is the drop in the age of puberty is due to improved diet, but other factors are acknowledged; for instance a child's size at birth is a predictor.
But some of it is environmental. There's no other explanation for this.
Secondary sexual characteristics and menses in young girls seen in office practice: a study from the Pediatric Research in Office Settings network.
Herman-Giddens ME, Slora EJ, Wasserman RC, Bourdony CJ, Bhapkar MV, Koch GG, Hasemeier CM.
Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599-7580, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the current prevalence and mean ages of onset of pubertal characteristics in young girls seen in pediatric practices in the United States. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted by 225 clinicians in pediatric practices belonging to Pediatric Research in Office Settings, a practice-based research network. After standardized training in the assessment of pubertal maturation, practitioners rated the level of sexual maturation on girls 3 through 12 years who were undergoing complete physical examinations. RESULTS: Data were analyzed for 17,077 girls, of whom 9.6% were African-American and 90.4% white. At age 3, 3% of African-American girls and 1% of white girls showed breast and/or pubic hair development, with proportions increasing to 27.2% and 6.7%, respectively, at 7 years of age. At age 8, 48.3% of African-American girls and 14.7% of white girls had begun development. At every age for each characteristic, African-American girls were more advanced than white girls. The mean ages of onset of breast development for African-American and white girls were 8.87 years (SD, 1.93) and 9.96 years (SD, 1.82), respectively; and for pubic hair development, 8.78 years (SD, 2.00) and 10.51 years (SD, 1.67), respectively. Menses occurred at 12.16 years (SD, 1.21) in African-American girls and 12.88 years (SD, 1.20) of age in white girls. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that girls seen in a sample of pediatric practices from across the United States are developing pubertal characteristics at younger ages than currently used norms. Practitioners may need to revise their criteria for referral of girls with precocious puberty, with attention to racial differences.
And the observation that the age of the onset of puberty is falling is no hallucination. And it's an issue with major impact, though no a major issue it seems. But it should be.
New Clues to Learning Disabilities Found
June 21, 2004 02:02:36 PM PDT , HealthDayBy Serena Gordon
HealthDay ReporterMONDAY, June 21 (HealthDayNews) -- Normal but slowed brain development and the onset of puberty may be important factors in learning disorders such as dyslexia, a new study reports.
The study, which appears in the June 21-25 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that children with learning disabilities may have immature brains that simply didn't have the time needed to develop properly.
The researchers from Northwestern University found that children with dyslexia showed brain development that was about two to four years younger than their chronological age. And while they found that these children's brains could catch up somewhat, the onset of puberty seemed to halt any further improvements in performance.
