Girls at Puberty: Biological and Psychosocial Perspectives

359 Pages·1983·31.92 MB·English

by  Michelle P. Warren (auth.)

Girls at Puberty
Biological and
Psychosocial Perspectives
Girls at Puberty
Biological and
Psychosocial Perspectives
Edited by
}EANNE BROOKS-GUNN
Educational Testing Service
Princeton, New Jersey
and
ANNE C. PETERSEN
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Girls at puberty.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Puberty. 2. Adolescent girls. 1. Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne. II. Petersen, Anne C.
[DNLM: 1. Adolescent psychology. 2. Puberty. WS 450 G525]
QP84.4.G57 1983 612.661 83-2358
ISBN 978-1-4899-0356-3 ISBN 978-1-4899-0354-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-0354-9
© 1983 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1983
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover lst edition 1983
AII rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
We dedicate this volume to
Beatrix A. Hamburg, M.D.
for drawing scientists to the critical
problems in early adolescence and
for helping define the field.
Contributors
Constance A. Benjamin • Department of Pediatrics and Child Health,
College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, D.C. 20060
Dale A. Blyth • Department of Psychology, Ohio State University,
Columbus, Ohio 43210
Andrew M. Boxer • Clinical Research Training Program in Adoles
cence, Laboratory for the Study of Adolescence, Department of Psy
chiatry, Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center and Committee
on Human Development, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illi
nois 60637
Jeanne Brooks-Gunn • Institute for the Study of Exceptional Children,
Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey 08541; and
Department of Pediatrics, College of Physicians and Surgeons,
Columbia University, New York, New York 10019
Florence Comite • Developmental Endocrinology Branch, National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Insti
tutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20205
William F. Crowley, Jr. • Vincent Research Laboratories, Departments of
Internal Medicine and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital,
Boston, Massachusetts 02114
Gordon B. Cutler, Jr. • Developmental Endocrinology Branch, National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Insti
tutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20205
vii
viii CONTRIBUTORS
William A. Daniel, Jr. • Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department
of Pediatrics, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birming
ham, Alabama 35294
Margaret S. Faust • Department of Psychology, Scripps College, Clare
mont, California 91711
Rose E. Frisch • Harvard Center for Population Studies and Depart
ment of Population Studies, Harvard University, School of Public
Health, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
John P. Hill • Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth
University, Richmond, Virginia 23284
Renee R. Jenkins • Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, College
of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, D.C. 20060
Jerry R. Klein • Department of Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent Med
icine, Michael Reese Hospital, University of Chicago Pritzker School
of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60616
Iris F. Litt • Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of
Medicine, Stanford, California 94305
D. Lynn Loriaux • Developmental Endocrinology Branch, National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Insti
tutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20205
Mary Ellen Lynch • Department of Psychology, Virginia Common
wealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23284
Karen L. McKinney • Department of Sociology, University of Minne
sota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Karen Eriksen Paige • Department of Psychology, University of Califor
nia, Davis, California 95616
Anne C. Petersen • Department of Individual and Family Studies, Col
lege of Human Development, The Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, Pennsylvania 16802
Jean Rivier • Peptide Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute, San Diego,
California 92138
CONTRIBUTORS ix
Diane N. Ruble • Department of Psychology, New York University,
New York, New York 10003
Roberta G. Simmons • Department of Sociology, University of Minne
sota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Maryse H. Tobin-Richards • Clinical Research Training Program in
Adolescence, Laboratory for the Study of Adolescence, Department
of Psychiatry, Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center; and
Committee on Human Development, The University of Chicago,
Chicago, Illinois 60637
Wylie W. Vale • Peptide Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute, San Diego,
California 92138
Michelle P. Warren • Departments of Medicine, and Obstetrics and
Gynecology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia Univer
sity; and St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York, New
York 10019
Guida E. Westney • Department of Human Development, School of
Human Ecology, Howard University, Washington, D.C. 20059
Foreword
The publication of this volume at this time appears particularly auspi
cious. Biological, psychological, and social change is greater during the
pubertal years than at any other period since infancy. While the past two
decades have witnessed a virtual explosion of productive research on the
first years of life, until recently research on adolescence, and particularly
on puberty and early adolescence, has lagged substantially behind. This
book provides encouraging evidence that things are changing for the
better.
Considered separately, the individual chapters in this book include
important contributions to our growing knowledge of the biological
mechanisms involved in pubertal onset and subsequent changes, as well
as of the psychological and social aspects of these changes, both as con
sequences and determinants. In this regard, the book clearly benefits
from the breadth of disciplines represented by the contributors, includ
ing developmental endocrinology, adolescent medicine, pediatrics, psy
chology, and sociology, among others.
Even more importantly, however, the editors and their colleagues
stress the need for avoiding simplistic, unidirectional models of devel
opment, whether biological, psychological or social. Development across
the life span is dependent on the continual interaction of biological
(including genetic), psychological, and social influences; appreciating
this reality becomes particularly important in designing and coordinat
ing research on puberty because of the magnitude and the rapidity of
change in all of these influences during the pubertal years. While much
remains to be done in exploring these complex interactions, progress is
being made, as a number of the contributions to this volume illustrate.
The editors themselves provide one useful approach in their model of
xi
xii fOREWORD
possible paths between pubertal changes, sociocultural influences, and
psychological responses.
Girls at Puberty also makes an important contribution to our under
standing of the varied roles, positive and negative, that such uniquely
female developmental events as menarche and reproductive maturity
can play in the lives of young women, as a result of the kinds of in
fluences-psychological, sociocultural, and biological-which they
encounter. This emphasis, too, seems particularly auspicious. Prior to the
Women's Movement, and the impact that it has had on developmental
psychology-and psychologists-it seems unlikely that such a sensitive,
balanced, and clearly focused approach would have been possible. Fur
thermore, such a sophisticated approach clearly would not have been fea
sible without the recent advances that have occurred in the broad range
of relevant scientific disciplines, from genetics and endocrinology to
anthropology, sociology, and psychology.
The contributors to this volume have done an impressive job in con
veying much of what we currently know about girls and puberty. And
they have helped to highlight what we still need to learn.
John Janeway Conger
Division of Clinical Psychology
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Denver, Colorado 80220