e-journal
Race and Perceived Pubertal Transition Effects on Girls’ Depressive Symptoms and Delinquent Behaviors
Most past research on the effects of early pubertal timing on girls’ depressive symptoms and delinquent
behavior has focused on either age of menarche or has combined multiple indicators of development into a
single index of puberty. Past research has rarely examined both the onset of puberty such as age of menarche, as well more psychologically mediated impressions of puberty (i.e., perceived pubertal timing) within the same study. This study extends past research on racial differences and pubertal related effects on girls’ depressive symptoms and delinquent behavior by examining the independent influence
of different indicators of puberty (age of menarche, development of breasts, and perceived pubertal timing). Two waves of data (100 % females) were used from African Americans (N = 481) and European Americans (N = 1259) who were enrolled in seventh- and eighthgrade during the first wave of data collection in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Early age of menarche was associated with high levels of depressive symptoms at Wave 1. Additionally, both early and late perceived pubertal timing were associated with high levels of depressive symptoms and high delinquent behaviors at Wave 1. The structural relationships among these variables were similar for African Americans and European Americans. Age of menarche and perceived pubertal timing influenced depressive symptoms and delinquent behavior at Wave 2 through depressive symptoms and delinquent behavior reported at Wave 1. The
implications of these findings are discussed with an emphasis on how the specific indicator used to assess puberty is important in efforts to understand pubertal timing effects. Keywords Depressive symptoms Pubertal timing Delinquent behaviors Race differences Adolescent girls Perceived puberty
Tidak ada salinan data
Tidak tersedia versi lain