Abstract
Self-report measures of perceived pubertal timing correspond only weakly with clinical measures of “objective” physical development. Peer and school contexts shape adolescents’ self-perceptions of pubertal timing. The current study examined associations between perceived pubertal timing and the pubertal timing reported by nominated friends and schoolmates. Participants included 2817 adolescents (Mage = 16.6; 49 % female; 16 % Black; 20 % Hispanic) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Three measures of pubertal timing were included: age-standardized ratings of body changes, comparisons of development relative to peers (relative timing), and, in females, age at menarche. It was hypothesized that relative timing, which explicitly asks adolescents to compare themselves to their peers, would be related to the age-standardized pubertal timing of nominated friends and schoolmates. Surprisingly, there were no associations between relative timing and age-standardized pubertal timing reported by peers, suggesting that pubertal self-perceptions do not fluctuate in response to the average level of development in a friend group. Instead, males were similar to nominated friends and schoolmates in age-standardized ratings of body changes, and females were similar to nominated friends in relative timing, controlling for race, ethnicity, and age. Different self-report measures of pubertal timing index different underlying constructs, and the social processes that influence adolescents’ perceptions of pubertal maturation may differ between genders.
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Acknowledgments
This research uses data from Add Health, a Program Project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by Grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from Grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.
Author contributions
NK conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, performed statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript; JM participated in the study design and interpretation of the data and helped draft the manuscript; KH participated in the design and coordination of the study, assisted with statistical analysis, and helped draft the manuscript; JC participated in the study design, assisted with statistical analysis and interpretation of the data, and helped draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Kretsch, N., Mendle, J., Cance, J.D. et al. Peer Group Similarity in Perceptions of Pubertal Timing. J Youth Adolescence 45, 1696–1710 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0275-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0275-3