Course content © Copyright 2011 - 2026 by Julianna Deardorff, Ph.D.. All rights reserved.

OVERVIEW OF COURSE – COMING SOON

Relative to their typically developing peers, early-maturing girls are at risk for a host of negative mental health outcomes in adolescence, including internalizing and externalizing problems as symptoms of depression and anxiety and related psychiatric disorders, conduct problems, substance use issues, and sexual risk-taking behaviors and early pregnancy. In addition, early maturers are at greater risk for breast and other reproductive cancers in adulthood. These findings are particularly alarming given strong epidemiologic evidence that girls in the U.S. now enter puberty earlier than in the past. This course reviews the scientific literature on early pubertal timing and highlights the numerous emotional and behavioral effects for girls. Although there is less extant research to date, this course also outlines the recent literature addressing boys’ pubertal timing and related consequences. Implications for clinical providers and strategies for intervention are discussed.