A news article on the Bloomberg Businessweek website summarizes a recent research study that appeared in the Journal of Adolescent Health (full ref given at end of article) which found that families with an absent father is associated with girls reaching puberty earlier but only for girls from "higher income" families (i.e., > $50K). See: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/643206.html
Quoting from the article: |For their study, published Sept. 17 in the Journal of Adolescent Health, |Deardorff and her colleagues followed 444 girls, aged 6 to 8 at the start, |and their mothers. They gathered extensive data on factors such as |weight, height, stage of breast and pubic hair development, father's |presence and income. Eighty percent of the girls said their fathers did |not live with them. | |After two years of follow-up, the researchers saw earlier breast d |evelopment in higher-income girls in absentee-dad homes across the |board, but noted earlier pubic hair growth only in black girls from |richer families. Having another male, such as a stepfather, in the home |didn't change the findings. | |They also found, as other researchers have, that higher body-mass |index (BMI), a calculation based on height and weight, was also linked |with earlier puberty. It seems to me that the authors of the journal article and the author of the news article are appropriately limited in speculating about why such an association exists. I also think that the article is noteworthy in making clear what its sources are, including a link to the American Academy of Pediatrics, to allow further examination of the topic. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4976 or send a blank email to leave-4976-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
