Puberty, otherwise referred to as the teenage stage, is one of the most important milestones in human development coupled with rapid and near-simultaneous transformations occurring in different domains, such as biological, social, and psychological. It is viewed as an essential stage between childhood and adulthood, during which time an individual goes through physical changes. The expectation is that individuals, in this stage, must learn how to navigate social norms and expectations as part of their approach to bridging the gap between childhood and adulthood. Most often, this necessitates confrontations considering that individuals face a reorganization of identity and self-perception. The mental impacts of such confrontations are often significant for teenagers affecting mental health and capabilities in a significant way. It is worth noting that the effects of early puberty affect both boys and girls, exposing them to a higher likelihood of mental disorders. Early puberty is a delicate stage paving the way for rapid transformation across multiple domains; thus, creating mental strain contributing to a vast array of mental health challenges.
Early Puberty and Mental Health
The onset of puberty is seen as an essential step in bridging the gap between childhood and adulthood attributed to some of the psychological, medical, sexual, and social changes. Just as puberty occurs as multiplying determined, it often has a vast array of negative outcomes on the teenagers involved because it exposes them to a high likelihood of mental health challenges. Early physical development in the puberty stage often contributes to the emergence of adverse outcomes exposing teenagers to serious mental health challenges (Oldehinkel, Verhulst, & Ormel, 2011). Early maturation precipitates the onset of social changes regardless of teenagers not being ready, both physically and psychologically. The challenge is that a high number of such teenagers are forced to contend with these changes without any form of professional help or assistance for their psychological wellbeing.
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Different theories have played a critical role in trying to create a link between early onset of puberty and mental health issues among teenagers. On the one hand, biological theories focus on the maturational dysfunctional hinge resulting from a teenager’s physical and hormonal changes, which are often hastened by puberty. The implication of these changes is often arousal, excitability, or excessive emotionality, which negatively affect the endocrine system affecting their inability to control emotions. On the other hand, psychological theories suggest that early puberty developers often face serious vulnerabilities attributed to their inability to build societal responses to the rate at which they develop. Maturation creates a situation where the rate in which teenagers build psychological responses fails to match what is expected in maximizing their abilities to deal with the changes in an effective way. In other words, teenagers going through social changes often encounter a vast array of challenges, which means that they are socially disadvantaged.
Consequences of Early Pubertal Timing on Mental Health
The association of early puberty and mental health is evident from the fact that teenagers are much more vulnerable at this stage of development when compared to all other steps. The main issue of concern is that psychological attention has not been placed on the mental health status of teenagers at the early stages of puberty (Oldehinkel, Verhulst, & Ormel, 2011). Consequently, this means that a significant number of teenagers are often left to contend or understand the social and psychological changes that they are going through without any form of professional assistance. Therefore, teenagers often face a high risk of different mental disorders, which are important to understand as part of trying to understand the consequences of early pubertal timing on mental health. The following is a discussion of some of the psychological sequelae resulting from early puberty:
Depression
Teenagers are much more likely to manifest symptoms of development during the early stages of puberty when compared to any other stage in human development. Galvao et al. (2014) indicate that the symptoms are often most prominent between the ages of 11 and 16 years, which is a stage when teenagers go through the greatest physical and psychological changes. Pubertal transition, in itself, is rather stressful considering that teenagers are expected to shift from being children paving the way for their transition to becoming adults. The changes, which occur in a multitude of domains that they go through often expose them to high possibilities of stress. Additionally, the hormones associated with the onset of puberty also influence the manifestation of symptoms associated with depression because it is much harder for teenagers to keep up with the rate at which these changes are occurring. The most common factor contributing to the manifestation of these symptoms is physical maturation making it harder for teenagers to maintain friendships, especially same-sex peers.
It is important to note that a psychological model associated with depressive symptoms resulting from early puberty is often consistent with a biological one. As teenagers go through different biological changes resulting from hormonal shifts, impacting emotional responses, they face a high likelihood of experiencing negative psychological effects (Mrug et al., 2014). The challenge is often compounded by the fact that teenagers often encounter problems in building positive connections and interactions with their peers and parents. Consequently, this creates a perplexing outcome where a significant number of these teenagers lack an effective emotional response to improve their abilities to deal with such changes. It is from this perspective that the risk of depression is often associated with the early stages of puberty, especially when teenagers are not able to build a close relationship with those around them.
Eating Disorders
Early puberty is often associated with notable physical changes, which result from a gain in weight and body fat. The implication that this stage has on teenagers is that it exposes them to a high risk of eating disorders considering that they often experience a change in their eating habits to accommodate the physical changes that they are going through. Klump, Suisman, Culbert, Kashy and Sisk (2011) argue that approximately 19% of teenagers in the early stage of puberty engage in one form of disordered eating behavior, such as anorexia or binge eating, to change their body perception. Teenage girls are much more likely to engage in starvation when they are going through physical changes, some of which result in significant weight or fat gain. The onset of such behaviors is the fact that they hold a negative perception of their body, which changes how they view themselves.
Early maturation is often characterized by normative concerns among teenagers about their body shape, for girls, and weight, for boys. Body dissatisfaction and low self-esteem are some of the key outcomes associated with the distorted body perceptions that teenagers on themselves; hence excessive dieting and disordered eating (Mensah et al., 2013). Studies have indicated that teenagers in the early stages of puberty often show signs and symptoms of bulimia and subclinical bulimia nervosa. The occurrence of these symptoms shows that teenagers often lack a sense of satisfaction within themselves, especially after they have gone through multiple changes. An example of a change that contributes to eating disorders is menarche, which is the first occurrence of menstruation in girls, causing serious changes in body outlook and image. Continued use of social media among teenagers is also seen as a contributor to the occurrence of eating disorders because they find themselves to a distorted view of what the ‘acceptable’ body image in society. That changes their approach towards their eating behaviors to achieve such expectations.
Substance Abuse Disorder
Substance abuse disorder is another key mental health issue of concern associated with early puberty. Tsai, Strong, and Lin (2015) indicate that early pubertal development is often characterized by initiation into smoking and drinking habits. By doing so, the youngsters think that it is a way of ensuring that they retain their 'cool' nature connecting them to their peers, which increases the likelihood of diagnosis with substance abuse disorder in adults. The challenge for a significant number of teenagers in early puberty is that they face severe challenges as they try to 'fit' into society. The social, physical, and psychological changes that teenagers are going through often bring out a vast array of challenges in trying to connect with society. Therefore, this increases the possibility of teenagers being exposed to peer pressure to engage in harmful activities likely to impact their mental health.
The number of teenagers who engages in substance abuse often creates a sense of worry in the community, considering that many of them do not understand how these substances affect their mental capabilities. Teenagers in early puberty smoke and consume alcohol at much higher rates when compared to those in the late stages of puberty because they are much more susceptible to peer pressure (Fuqua, 2013). In some cases, these teenagers encounter pressure for them to engage in the consumption of illegal drugs, such as marijuana and cocaine, among others. In such cases, the likelihood of these teenagers facing risks of addiction often increases significantly considering that they may not be able to control the quantities and frequencies of consumption. The link between early pubertal development and substance abuse reflects on unsteady emotional development, which becomes a challenge depending on the support they receive while going through multiple changes.
Sexual Activity
Early puberty development often creates a false perception of adulthood, which results in earlier initiation of sexual intercourse. Teenagers going through early puberty often experience a higher likelihood of engaging in sexually intimate behaviors with their peers, which include kissing and petting, among others (Deardorff et al., 2011). The behaviors often build upon themselves every time; thus, meaning that they have a much higher likelihood of engaging sexual intercourse early than their peers. Psychologically, teenagers, who go through early puberty, often build a sexually mature appearance, which makes them more appealing to older males and females meaning that the likelihood of them engaging in premature sexual intercourse increases significantly (Deardorff et al., 2011). For teenage girls, early puberty often creates a high likelihood of giving birth or terminating a pregnancy when compared to their peers. That is because it is somewhat challenging for them to learn how to engage in safe sexual activities, thereby exposing themselves to unwanted pregnancies.
Nevertheless, early sexual activity is just an example of the correlating impacts that early maturation may have on teenagers, which exposes them to problematic sequelae. De Genna, Larkby, and Cornelius (2011) argue that the rate at which teenage girls are engaging in sexual activities is worrying because many of these teenagers only use these activities to satisfy their emotional wants. However, they fail to recognize the fact that these sexual activities are much more likely to expose them to grievous risks of sexually transmitted diseases. The emotional implication of early maturation is that teenagers often face situations where it becomes much harder to build romantic relationships. The challenge often arises from a situation where many of these teenagers face high risks of depression as they progress through puberty. Therefore, they often encounter serious problems as they try to re-establish their identities even as they deal with unwanted sexual advances.
Recommendations to Alleviate Mental Health Issues
From the discussion, it can be noted that mental health indeed remains as one of the key challenges for many of the teenagers going through the early onset of puberty. The first recommendation to alleviating such mental health issues is ensuring that parents build a close relationship with their children and help them deal with the changes associated with puberty. In cases where teenagers receive help and support from those close to them, the likelihood of facing mental health issues reduces significantly. It is because teenagers are always in a position to share some of the challenges they are facing. The second recommendation is ensuring that schools adopt genetically informed education as a way of preparing teenagers mentally. The education system fails to prepare students mentally for the changes that they are likely to encounter as they go through puberty. Therefore, this increases the risk of mental health issues.
Conclusion
Puberty encompasses rapid changes as a transition from childhood to adulthood. The broad categories in which these changes occur are psychosocial, biological, and selection, each of which tends to have an emotional toll on the teenagers affected. Many of these changes occur subsequently, which makes it hard for the teenagers involved to comprehend the implications that they are having on their mental health. The main challenge that a significant number of teenagers experience is that they do not receive any form of professional help that would build their capacities and abilities to handle the changes in an effective way. Ultimately, this becomes a key issue of concern because the teenagers involved often face serious issues as they try to create their identities. From the discussion, it can be noted that early puberty often contributes to a wide array of mental health problems ranging from depression to eating disorders, substance abuse disorder, and sexual activity.
References
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