I'm gonna rustle up some links on early puberty.
Here's one study on the syndrome.
One quote: Precocious puberty refers to the appearance of physical and hormonal signs of pubertal development at an earlier age than is considered normal. For many years, puberty was considered precocious in girls younger than 8 years; however, a recent study and review suggest that age 7 years is a more appropriate age boundary for white girls and age 6 years for black girls. For boys, onset of puberty before age 9 years is considered precocious.
Another:
The early appearance of breasts or menses in girls and increased libido in boys can cause emotional distress for some children.
This study has rather disturbing photographs of a nine-year-old boy with breasts.
More links than you can shake a stick at.
Link to phthalates (plastics) discussed last year.
The study by the University of Puerto Rico said that island is believed to have the highest incidence of thelarche, or premature breast development, in the world, a fact that has puzzled researchers for two decades.
Myers said the study offers the first "statistically significant" link. Forty-one blood samples from girls without thelarche had no phthalates, while a majority of 28 samples from girls with the condition had "significantly high" levels of phthalates, the study said.
There's still some debate over whether puberty age is dropping, but it's definitely something people are talking about:
This point is supported by Dr Russel Viner, an endocrinologist at Great Ormond Street hospital, in London. 'The average age for the onset of puberty in girls is still between 10 and 11, when the first bodily changes start occurring, while menstruation begins at 13,' he told The Observer .
'Those ages have come down dramatically since the turn of the century, when menstruation began at around 17, and the main cause for that drop was probably improved nutrition.'
However, since the Sixties official figures have remained more or less stable, and there is not yet any solid medical evidence that more children are hitting early puberty, he added. 'However, we're hearing a lot more stories of girls starting their periods in junior school. There's certainly a rise in concern among teachers and parents.'
Such worries were given solid support in 1997 when Dr Marcia Herman-Geddes, of the University of North Carolina, published data which suggested it was now normal to see the first signs of puberty in girls as young as six. And a Children Of The Nineties study in Bristol last year found one in six eight-year-old girls were reaching puberty.
This is echoed by this article here, which says:
Reporting a finding from the April issue of the journal Pediatrics, entitled "Secondary Sexual Characteristics and Menses in Young Girls Seen in Office Practice," we learn that 48% of African-American girls and 15% of white girls had begun some pubertal development by age 8, while the mean ages of onset of menses occurred at 12.2 years in African-American girls and 12.9 years of age in white girls.
Lead author Marcia Herman-Giddens is quoted to the effect that "I was very surprised to see how many girls were developing earlier."
But earlier than what? The actual study makes clear that we are not seeing a genuine change in the age of puberty, but rather, girls are "developing pubertal characteristics at younger ages than currently used norms." As the Post story noted in paragraph seven, "the age at which girls first menstruate hasn't changed much since 1950."
It points out that "age of puberty" was actually set by a British study in the 1960s, which didn't take into account things like racial diversity. In other words, it may be that black girls develop earlier anyways. (Part of that establishmentarian blindness to non-whites.)
However, I'm prone to believe that environmental estrogens really can, like, fuck you up. |
