Toward a New Understanding of Early Menarche: The Role of Environmental Stress in Pubertal Timing. Wierson et al (1992)
Missie Fee
11-10-10
The menarche, the beginning of the menstrual cycle, is one of the main indicators of the onset of puberty in females. The onset of puberty can be affected by many factors, and varies across generations, cultures and individuals. Recent research looks at the relationship between biological change, and the organism’s environment such as psychological stressors. This study examines inter-parental conflicts, family stressors, and divorce based on previous research from Belsky, Stienberg, & Draper, 1991.
The focus on the research was on early menarche being adaptive for children who live in environments with family stress such as separated parents and parental conflict. Belsky et al (1991) suggests that early menarche in adolescents can be triggered by environmental stress. Early menstruation in adolescents has been correlated with higher rates of sexual activity and reproduction. This supports Belsky et al’s theory that quality reproduction and nurturing one offspring is more likely to happen in a secure family environment versus multiple offspring in an insecure environment where the offspring is less likely to be successful. The theory looks at this as an adaptive response to a stressful environment. This theory has often been criticized by the scientific community for “its lack of current support, its overreaching conclusions and its classist implications” (298).
The subjects who participated were 71 adolescent girls and their mothers. The subjects ages ranged from 11 years, 5 months to 18 years. 44 families were involved in the study. 27 of the families were divorced. The Myers and Bean (1958) two factor index of social position was used to assess socioeconomic status. Father’s scores were calculated for intact families, whereas the mother’s scores were used for divorced families. All families that participated were Caucasian. Subjects were paid for their participation, and participation was voluntary. All parents who were divorced had to be divorced 12 months prior to the study to participate.
Parental marital status was determined though a single-item questionnaire given to the mother. Overt marital conflict was in the adolescents presence was assessed though the O’Leary-Porter Scale. A Personal Data Form of 30 statements was used to measure the perception of marital conflict of the adolescent. The Pubertal Development Scale was used to assess pubertal status. The adolescents were asked to report what age they started their menstrual cycle, only age of menstruation was used in the study. Age of menstruation was the dependent variable that was being questioned in the study.
The results from the study showed menstruation started significantly earlier in girls from divorced families versus girls from intact families. The results of this study were congruent with Belsky et al (1991). The study reflected that girls from divorced families started menarche 6 months earlier, that stressors in the family environment effected earlier onset of menarche, and that frequent marital conflict is predictive in earlier onset of menarche. The authors of the study discuss that although this does support the theory from Belsky et al (1991), that the data are not in refute with traditional psychological views and research that early menstruation is a stressor. Limitations to the study were discussed by the authors as the study not examining other biological factors to the start of early menarche such as mother’s age of menstruation, nutrition, and weight. Other limitations discussed were that the adolescent’s perception of conflicts and measures of conflict were not always recorded prior to puberty, as well as the father’s absence and role of divorce. Families that participated had been divorced 12 months, and the children were over the age of 10.
I found this article fascinating. I have heard from my own personal work an increase in “precocious puberty” in female children. After reading this article I am curious if an increase in divorce rates correlate with the increase in children menstruating earlier has an adaptive response to their environment. I would love to see if there was a way to connect any further research with this such as rates of divorce and affects on the adolescents’ development.
