Psychosocial antecedents of variation in girls' pubertal timing: maternal depression, stepfather presence, and marital and family stress
Abstract
Drawing on Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper's evolutionary theory of the development of reproductive strategies, we tested a model of individual differences in girls' pubertal timing. This model posits that a history of psychopathology in mothers results in earlier pubertal maturation in daughters, and that this effect is mediated by discordant family relationships and father absence/stepfather presence. The model was supported in a short-term longitudinal study of 87 adolescent girls. In the primary test of the model, it was found that a history of mood disorders in mothers predicted earlier pubertal timing in daughters, and this relation was fully mediated by dyadic stress and biological father absence. In families in which the mother's romantic partner was not the biological father, dyadic stress accounted for almost half of the variation in daughters' pubertal timing. Stepfather presence, rather than biological father absence, best accounted for earlier pubertal maturation in girls living apart from their biological fathers. We propose that stepfather presence and stressful family relationships constitute separate paths to early pubertal maturation in girls.
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The timing of puberty is influenced by social experience.
“there is accumulating evidence that the timing of puberty itself is influenced by social experience.”
From Impact of socio-emotional context, brain development, and pubertal maturation on adolescent risk-taking (2013) · cites this paper as Ellis, 2000
In families marked by parent-adolescent conflict or father absence, puberty tends to occur earlier.
“Several studies have shown, for example, that puberty is accelerated in family contexts characterized by parent-adolescent conflict and or father absence (for a review, see Ellis, 2000).”
From Impact of socio-emotional context, brain development, and pubertal maturation on adolescent risk-taking (2013) · cites this paper as Ellis, 2000
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- Authors
- Ellis, B. J., & Garber, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Canterbury (NZ)
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- ORCID
- Ellis, Bruce J
- Venue
- Child Development
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2000-03-01
- Volume
- 71
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 485-501
- ISSN
- 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8624
- OpenAlex
- W2122499258
- Cited by
- 438
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 23
- FWCI
- 36.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R29-MH4545801A1, T32MH018921, T32-MH18921-08)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
- Keywords
- pubertal timing, early maturation, girls, maternal depression, father absence, marital stress, family stress, individual differences, adolescent girls
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Age Factors, Child, Depressive Disorder, Major, Major Depressive Disorder, Family, Fathers, Female, Humans, Marriage, Mothers, Parents, Puberty, Precocious
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