PSYCHOSOCIAL-ASPECTS OF PRECOCIOUS PUBERTY

This paper will deal with the psychologic correlates of abnormal puberty and the implications for assessment and treatment. The main areas of adolescent behavior, equally relevant to the child who undergoes normal or abnormal puberty, are psychosexual development, psychopathology and mental functioning in terms of level of intelligence and cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Regarding psychosexual development, the important findings are that adolescents with precocious puberty tend to be somewhat earlier in starting their adolescent sex life, though they still remain within the normal range of current standards. The reports on psychopathology in children with precocious puberty on a short-term or long-term basis are based on clinical case reports and systematic studies and suggest that a history of precocious puberty may carry with it an increased risk of psychopathology. IQ and school achievement are typically not negatively affected in precocious puberty; in fact, there is a suggestion of the opposite. It may be that there is an advantage in intellectual development associated with early pubertal maturation, which may be temporary rather than long-term.