25% of African American girls reach puberty by 7 years old
15% of Hispanic American girls reach puberty by 7 years old
10% of white American girls reach puberty by 7 years old

A new American study published in the journal Pediatrics has found that girls are growing breasts and reaching puberty as early as 7 years old. The study was carried out by a research team at the Cincinnati children’s hospital, drawing on girls from East Harlem in New York, Cincinnati and San Francisco.

The team took 1,239 girls with Hispanic, African American and Caucasian backgrounds aged between 6 and 8 years old.
Experts are concerned about the effects that the early onset of puberty may have on the girls’ lives later on.

This effect on both their physical and emotional well-being is yet to be fully determined but research has shown that girls who physically develop at an early age are more likely to suffer from body image issues, low self esteem, an increased probability of eating disorders and depression.

Many of these girls are not emotionally or mentally ready to enter the world of ‘teenagers’ and they can find themselves out of their depths and engaging in sexual experiences at an earlier age.

Author and Generation Next speaker Maggie Hamilton said the implications of early puberty can have an enormous impact on young girls lives “life can be doubly hard for girls who physically mature early, because they sometimes look or act more mature than they are. Early-maturing girls are also more likely to interpret what they see in the media as approving of teens having sex.”

She added “As girls are physically maturing young and becoming more articulate, it’s easy for parents and teachers to forget that emotionally they’re still very young. The increasing influence of peers and popular culture on their behaviour and attitudes heightens their vulnerability. It’s a difficult balance for these teen wannabes, because while they don’t want to be seen as kids, they still have a lot of growing up to do”.

She concluded that “how girls approach puberty can have a huge impact on their ongoing self-esteem”.

Comparisons with studies conducted in 1997 show that the number of white girls who have developed breasts by the age of 7 years old has now doubled.

Similar results were also found in a European study conducted by the University Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen Denmark in 2009. The report Recent Decline in Age at Breast Development: The Copenhagen Puberty Study, found that the onset of puberty (defined as the age at attainment of glandular breast tissue) occurred in many girls by the age of 9.86 years in 2006 as compared with 10.88 years of age in 1991.

Experts say that there are many factors contributing to the onset of early puberty in girls including food additives, pollution, underactive thyroid glands and chemicals known as endocrine disruptors that act on hormones to change bodily functions.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald. Journal “Pediatrics”