Early Puberty May Cause Serious Psychological Problems

Recent research has determined that children are reaching puberty at younger and younger ages with it not uncommon for girls in their eighth year to complete puberty.  A variety of reasons why this is happening have been suggested and some are being extensively studied.  Chemicals children are exposed to, hormones in food they eat, and excess body weight in girls from our super sized fast food menu, are some of the reasons that this generation of kids are becoming mature earlier than ever before.

We know that early maturity has some effects on general body health.  Children that go into puberty early stop growing earlier too, and the onset of many adult medical problems such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease is also earlier.  But early puberty may also be a reason that children are experiencing a rise in mental problems.

Some mental illnesses generally manifest for the first time around puberty and early adulthood.  If puberty takes place at age 8 then those mental conditions are also triggered earlier.  But it?s often harder for parents and doctors to consider mental illness when diagnosing children with behavior problems.  And some of the rise in psychological problems children experience and the rise in the youth suicide rates may come from teaming a body with mature sexual urges up with a brain that hasn?t developed the experience and knowledge to control those urges.

Statistics show that children who have an early puberty are more likely to become victims of sexual abuse and are more likely to have babies in their teens than later maturing children.  They are also more likely to get sexually transmitted diseases and fall victim to violent crimes than children who mature later.  All of these things are also contributors to why youth need more help with behavioral and mental issues than ever before.

A child of eight or nine is hard to see as a sexual being for most people, even if that child shows signs of early maturity.  These children are less likely to be counseled about risky behavior or even given basic sex education.  Their naivety can lead to serious mental and physical problems when things happen they are not prepared for.

A child eight or nine years old is still mastering social skills and learning to decipher human behavior.   They should be worrying about making the spelling bee championship or who is going to choose them for their team on recess, not whether they have a sexual disease or are pregnant.

Puberty can be delayed by medical intervention if signs are detected early enough.  What we need to determine still is if delaying puberty is the right thing to do for a child?s mental and physical health and at what age we should intervene to delay puberty, or whether we should step up sex education and counseling for younger and younger children.  We should also be working to determine exactly what things contribute the most to premature puberty and remove them from our environment.

This helpful article is authored by the happyhealth.net research crew.   Our site is your source for valuable information about hearing aid prices available and other excellent products.  Additionally we provide reviews on hearing aids, related information on  and so much more!