Adolescence Lasting Longer
At the same time as adolescence seems to be lasting longer, puberty is beginning earlier in both boys and girls. Adolescence was defined in the 1975 edition of Nelson’s Textbook of Pediatrics as a ‘physiological and psychosocial process… lasting in Western society from the age of 12 or 13 years into the late teens or even the early 20’s’. The endpoint was based on both psychological maturity and ‘economic and social emancipation from the parental family’. Fast forward to the 21st Century and both of these benchmarks indicating the end of adolescence have been pushed ahead for many young people. Evidence includes the fact that children are staying at home with their parents longer or moving back in after an initial foray out into the real world, students are taking longer to finish college, physically mature young adults are now able to depend on their parents’ health insurance until the age of 26 and, finally, taking on the responsibilities of marriage and childrearing have been pushed farther ahead. In its extreme form this phenomenon has recently been described as Failure to Launch Syndrome where young adults, males in particular, seem almost incapable of taking the plunge to independence.
Puberty Beginning Earlier
It has long been recognized that girls have been reaching puberty at earlier and earlier ages, depending on race. It is estimated that childhood for girls has decreased by a year and a half over the last 30 years. According to a 2011 article appearing in the journal Pediatrics 15% of American girls now begin puberty by age 7 and that number rises to 23% for black girls. One in ten white girls begins developing breasts by age 7, double the number in a comparable study done in 1997. It has only recently been recognized that boys are beginning puberty at an earlier age, as well. A study published in Pediatrics in 2012 indicates that boys are showing the first physical signs of puberty six months to two years earlier than in previous studies. The average age when genital development began in the recent study was 10.14 years for white boys and 9.14 years for black boys, about a year and a half earlier than in previously published studies.
Lost Childhood
Adolescence, then, begins with the physical changes of puberty and ends with the psychosocial achievement of autonomy and independence. As we have seen, this period of life is literally being stretched at both ends of the timeline. At one end, physiological changes are beginning sooner and on the other end, psychological changes are occurring later. There are a number of social and physiological factors that have lead to this conundrum, and it may take a while to sort out all the ramifications. Regardless, there are bound to be significant societal accommodations that will have to be made. Medical researchers are not sure why puberty is beginning earlier in children, but have speculated that the increasing incidence of obesity may be playing a role in girls and environmental and nutritional factors may play a role in both boys and girls. While the physical signs of puberty may be appearing earlier, children’s brains may not be ready for the change. For this reason, it is important to be on the alert for increased anxiety, depression and behavior disorders in these individuals resulting from this seeming imbalance. Ironically, while children of the 21st Century may look forward to more years of old age, they seem to be having fewer years of childhood. This is unfortunate, in my opinion, because childhood, after all, can be one of the most wonderful periods of our lifetime.
