Adults at 12? Trends in puberty and their public health consequences

• Published in: Journal of epidemiology and community health (1979) Vol. 60; no. 11; pp. 910 - 911
• Main Authors: Bellis, M A, Downing, J, Ashton, J R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 01.11.2006; BMJ Publishing Group; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Group
• Subjects: Adolescents; Adults; Age; Attitude to Health; Behavior; Child; Child nutrition; EDITORIALS; Europe; Female; Humans; Industrialized nations; Infections; Male; Menarche; Nutrition; Psychosexual Development; Puberty; Public Health; Risk taking; Secular variations; Sexual behavior; Sexual violence; Sexually transmitted diseases; Socioeconomic Factors; STD; Substance use; Trends; United States; Violence; United States; Europe
• ISSN: 0143-005X; 1470-2738
• DOI: 10.1136/jech.2006.049379

Puberty is a physical preparation for adulthood that, along with bodily changes, promotes interest in sexual activity, 10 increases aggression in adolescents, 11 encourages curiosity and can escalate risk-taking behaviours as people compete for social status and attempt to conform to perceived peer norms. 12 Increasingly, however, as social puberty lags behind physical puberty, the results can be ill-informed health-damaging behaviour. [...]early sexual activity is associated with unprotected sex and, consequently, sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancies. 13 Moreover, adolescent stresses resulting from mismatches in physical and social development may also promote substance use (including alcohol, tobacco and drug use) as ways of both self-medicating and trying to conform to peer pressures.