Early Pubertal Timing and Girls' Problem Behavior: Integrating Two Hypotheses

Autor/inn/en	Stattin, Hakan; Kerr, Margaret; Skoog, Therese
Titel	Early Pubertal Timing and Girls' Problem Behavior: Integrating Two Hypotheses
Quelle	In: Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40 (2011) 10, S.1271-1287 (17 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0047-2891
DOI	10.1007/s10964-011-9696-9
Schlagwörter	Socialization; Delinquency; Females; Models; Foreign Countries; Puberty; Behavior Problems; Substance Abuse; Peer Influence; Risk; Context Effect; Case Studies; Leisure Time; Prediction; Sweden + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Socialisation; Sozialisation; Kriminalität; Weibliches Geschlecht; Analogiemodell; Ausland; Pubertät; Drug use; Drug consomption; Drogenkonsum; Risiko; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Freizeit; Vorhersage; Schweden
Abstract	Girls' early pubertal timing has been linked in many studies to behavioral problems such as delinquency and substance use. The theoretical explanations for these links have often involved the girls' peer relationships, but contexts have also been considered important in some explanations. By integrating two theoretical models, the "peer-socialization" and the "contextual-amplification" hypotheses, we propose a contextual framework for explaining the link between early pubertal timing and external problem behavior in girls. We hypothesize that early developing girls engage in unhealthy, dangerous, and risky behavior under contextual conditions that promote access to older friends and opposite-sex relationships. Under other conditions it is less likely. We tested this integrated hypothesis in two studies conducted in Sweden. The first was a cross-sectional study with information about school and free-time friends in a community sample (N = 284). Early pubertal timing was linked to having older, more normbreaking friends outside of school, but not in school, thus suggesting that the school context interferes early-developing girls' selection of older peers. The second study involved both a longitudinal (N = 434) and a cross-sectional sample of girls (N = 634), where we examined a leisure setting that is known to attract delinquent youth. Results showed that early pubertal timing was most strongly linked to delinquency for girls who spent time in this context and were heavily involved with boys and peers. In sum, results from both studies supported our predictions that certain contexts would amplify the peer-socialization effect. Overall, we conclude that the integrated peer-socialization/contextual-amplification model satisfactorily explains the link between pubertal timing and external problem behavior. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10