Girls who develop early at risk

24 Mar 2007

Girls who develop early tend to have sex with older boys, leaving boys their age dateless. Teachers rush in to fill their gaps. http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/early_puberty_greater_risk_for_sex_drugs/20070322-042705-2077r/

Early puberty: Greater risk for sex, drugs
CHAPEL HILL, N.C., March 22 (UPI) -- Teen girls who enter puberty early and have an older boyfriend are at higher risk for substance abuse and sexual activity, found a U.S. study.

A nationally representative sample of about 4,000 adolescents under 15 were tracked via follow-up surveys during the 1994-1995 school year.

The study, published in the journal Prevention Science, found girls who have an older boyfriend appear to be at an extra risk for multiple high-risk behaviors, such as intravenous drug use, marijuana use and sexual intercourse.

One in five of the girls in the study who started maturing earlier reported having a romantic partner who was older, compared to only one in 25 males who matured early.

"Parents of all teenagers have a responsibility for talking to their children and guiding them through romantic relationships and the risks of drug use," Carolyn Tucker Halpern of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health said in a statement.

"But this study shows that parents of girls who reach puberty ahead of the peers and who have an older boyfriend should take a special interest."

25 Mar 2007

Quote by Lush
The study, published in the journal Prevention Science, found girls who have an older boyfriend appear to be at an extra risk for multiple high-risk behaviors, such as intravenous drug use, marijuana use and sexual intercourse.

One in five of the girls in the study who started maturing earlier reported having a romantic partner who was older, compared to only one in 25 males who matured early.

Surely this is to be expected in an early-maturing male who would want/need/expect a more mature girl than his contemporaries. And the older girl would at the same time be wanting an older boy.

I have read studies which claim (and I don’t doubt the claim) that many, many girls mature both physically and emotionally at an earlier age than a boy. This being the case it’s natural that they gravitate to an older boyfriend, and don’t let us forget the ego and status factors for the girl in comparison with her gender peers in having that older boyfriend.

Boys when they do mature probably begin to have the typically male characteristics of aggression and competition and exploration (e.g. with drugs/substances in this context)which a girl may not have to the same degree.

With the witch’s brew of rampant hormones in both genders at that age, they can run off the rails especially with the male’s desperate need to explore a girl sexually.

This is probably a centuries old phenomenon, but the really sad thing is that while it has no doubt always happened between the sexes, the drug culture has turned something natural but hopefully controllable by parents in educating their daughters, into a lethal drug and substance taking experiment. And of course the media do not help by putting advertising pressure on the young to encourage earlier and earlier needs for glamour and sophistication of behaviour which the young are given no time to mature naturally into.

25 Mar 2007

We share similar views Susan, good post thumbup

3 Apr 2007

Someone actually took the time to do a "study" on this?
Isn't this something that is fairly obvious?

19 Jan 2010

I think its the responsibility of each young woman to find a man that will be responsible enough to not seduce her into such activities.

Teenager girls don't listen to their parents, so I don't see the point of mothers heavily interfering in such a love life (I wouldn't exactly know, my mother and I don't talk), they should have taught them from an early age on what is good for them and what is not.

20 Jan 2010

This is as old as time itself. Beginning in middle school, the start of the year always had new girls who had grown boobs over the summer. The early developing girls were always popular.

In order to know virtue, you must first become acquainted with vice.
- Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade
-------
En vis mann slår aldri en hund i klubben med en stokk, fordi hunden vil vende rundt og biter mannens ballene av.

21 Jan 2010

I sincerely hope that my daughter will always feel comfortable in coming to talk to me about anything and that I will have the presence of mind to spot any 'warning' signs that she may be on the path to (potential) ruin. She's only 10 now, but, studies aside, I am already scared out of my wits as to how I will respond to the 'older' boyfriend or (heaven forbid) drugs. crybaby

And yes, we have already had embarassing (for me, not her) conversations about her early developments (pubes & boobs!!). binky

Now, where did I put that shotgun?

"Whoa, lady, I only speak two languages, English and bad English." - Korben Dallas, from The Fifth Element

"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience?" - George Bernard Shaw

21 Jan 2010

Good for you Mercian. One of my fondest memories I have of my dad is being able to talk about anything with him.