This article presents findings from a study of the role of prior childhood adversity in the pubertal narratives of 16 African-American and White girls, defining adversity as the experience of stressful circumstances (e.g., abandonment, abuse) or psychological states (e.g., depression) that influence the experience of later life events, relationships, and self-perception. A majority of the girls reported such adversity, explaining that it either trivialized the problems typically ascribed to early puberty or demanded early maturity, particularly adult female roles, which consequently affected their adjustment to early pubescence. The author discusses the implications of childhood adversity for the salience of early puberty, examining the ways these identity features intersect to blur the staging of girls' development by producing multiple crossings into adulthood.
Alsaker, F.D. (1995). Timing of puberty and reactions to pubertal changes . In M. Rutter (Ed.), Psychological disturbances in young people (pp. 37-82). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
2.
Alsaker, F.D. (1996). Annotation: The impact of puberty. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 37(3), 249-258.
3.
Anfara, V.A., Jr., Brown, K.M., & Mangione, T.L. (2002). Qualitative analysis on stage: Making the research process more public. Educational Researcher, 31(7), 28-38.
4.
Basow, S.A., & Rubin, L.R. (1999). Gender influences on adolescent development. In N. G. Johnson, M. C. Roberts, & J. Worell (Eds.), Beyond appearance: A new look at adolescent girls (pp. 25-52). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
5.
Belsky, J., Steinberg, L., & Draper, P. (1991). Childhood experience, interpersonal development, and reproductive strategy: An evolutionary theory of socialization. Child Development, 62, 647-670.
6.
Beregevin, T., Bukowski, W., & Karavasilis, L. (2003). Childhood sexual abuse and pubertal timing: Implications for long-term psychosocial adjustment. In C. Hayward (Ed.), Gender differences at puberty (pp. 187-216). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
7.
Bordo, S. (1993). Unbearable weight: Feminism, Western culture, and the body. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Brooks-Gunn, J. (1988). Antecedents and consequences of variations of girls' maturational timing. Journal of Adolescent Health Care , 9, 365-370.
10.
Brooks-Gunn, J. (1990). Overcoming barriers to adolescent research on pubertal and reproductive development. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 19(5), 425-438.
11.
Brooks-Gunn, J., & Petersen, A.C. (1983). Introduction. In J. Brooks-Gunn & A. C. Petersen (Eds.), Girls at puberty: Biological and psychosocial perspectives (pp. xix-xxix). New York: Plenum .
12.
Brooks-Gunn, J., Petersen, A.C., & Eichorn, D. (1985). The study of maturational timing effects in adolescence . Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 14(3), 149-161.
13.
Brooks-Gunn, J., & Ruble, D.N. (1983). The experience of menarche from a developmental perspective. In J. Brooks-Gunn & A. C. Petersen (Eds.), Girls at puberty: Biological and psychosocial perspectives (pp. 155-177). New York: Plenum.
14.
Brown, L.M., & Gilligan, C. (1992). Meeting at the crossroads: Women's psychology and girls' development. New York: Ballantine.
15.
Cash, T.F. (1990). The Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ). In T. F. Cash & T. Pruzinsky (Eds.), Body images: Development, deviance, and change. New York: Guilford.
16.
Chernin, K. (1981). The obsession: Reflections on the tyranny of slenderness . New York: HarperCollins.
17.
Denzin, N.K., & Lincoln, Y.S. (1998). Introduction: Entering the field of qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials (pp. 1-34). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
18.
Dick, D.M., Rose, R.J., Viken, R.J., & Kaprio, J. (2000). Pubertal timing and substance use: Associations between and within families across late adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 36(2), 180-189.
19.
Driscoll, C. (2002). Girls: Feminine adolescence in popular culture and cultural theory. New York: Colombia University Press.
20.
Dulmus, C.N., & Hilarski, C. (2003). When stress constitutes trauma and trauma constitutes crisis: The stress-trauma-crisis continuum. Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention,3(1), 27-35.
21.
Ellis, B.J., & Garber, J. (2000). Psychosocial antecedents of variation in girls' pubertal timing: Maternal depression, stepfather presence, and marital and family stress. Child Development, 71(2), 485-501.
22.
Fischer, K.W., Ayoub, C., Singh, I., Noam, G., Maraganore, A., & Raya, P. (1997). Psychopathology as adaptive development along distinctive pathways. Development and Psychopathology, 9, 749-779.
23.
Garmezy, N., Masten, A.S., & Tellegen, A. (1984). The study of stress and competence in children: A building block for developmental psychopathology. Child Development, 55(1), 97-111.
24.
Garrod, A., Ward, J.V., Robinson, T.L., & Kilkenny, R. (1999). Souls looking back: Life stories of growing up black. New York: Routledge.
25.
Ge, X., Conger, R.D., & Elder, G.H. Jr., (1996). Coming of age too early: Pubertal influences on girls' vulnerability to psychological distress. Child Development, 67, 3386-3400.
26.
Hayward, C. (2003). Methodological concerns in puberty-related research . In C. Hayward (Ed.), Gender differences at puberty (pp. 1-14). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
27.
Herman, J. (1997). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence—from domestic abuse to political terror. New York: Basic Books.
28.
hooks, b. (1996). Bone black: Memories of girlhood. New York: Henry Holt.
29.
Houskamp, B.M., & Huff, R. (2001). The impact of family stress upon school-age children . In B. H. Stanford & K. Yamamoto (Eds.), Children and stress: Understanding and helping (pp. 33-42). Olney, MD: Association for Childhood Education International.
30.
Huberman, A.M., & Miles, M.B. (1998). Data management and analysis methods. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials (pp. 179-210). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
31.
Kaplowitz, P. (2004). Early puberty in girls: The essential guide to coping with this common problem. New York: Ballantine.
32.
Kim, K., & Smith, P.K. (1999). Family relations in early childhood and reproductive development. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology , 17(2), 133-148.
33.
Lee, J. ( 1994). Menarche and the (hetero)sexualization of the female body. Gender and Society, 8(3), 343-362.
34.
Lemonick, M.D. (2000, October 30). Teens before their time. Time, pp. 67-74.
35.
Lerner, R.M. (1985). Adolescent maturational changes and psychosocial development: A dynamic interactional perspective. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 14(4), 355-372.
36.
Loevinger, J., & Wessler, R. (1970). Measuring ego development (Vol. 1). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
37.
Martin, K.A. (1996). Puberty, sexuality, and the self: Boys and girls at adolescence. New York: Routledge .
38.
Masten, A.S. (1994). Resilience in individual development: Successful adaptation despite risk and adversity. In M. Wang & E. Gordon (Eds.), Educational resilience in inner city America: Challenges and prospects (pp. 3-25). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
39.
Masten, A.S., & Braswell, L. (1991). Developmental psychopathology: An integrative framework. In P. R. Martin (Ed.), Handbook of behavior therapy and psychological science: An integrative approach (pp. 35-56). New York: Penguin.
40.
Masten, A.S., Morison, P., Pellegrini, D., & Tellegen, A. (1990). Competence under stress: Risk and protective factors . In J. Rolf et al. (Eds.), Risk and protective factors in the development of psychopathology (pp. 236-256). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
41.
Maxwell, J.A. (2004). Using qualitative methods for causal explanation . Field Methods, 16(3), 243-264.
42.
Maxwell, J.A. (2005). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage.
43.
McGrory, A. (1990). Menarche: Responses of early adolescent females . Adolescence, 25(98), 265-270.
44.
Morse, J.M., Kieren, D., & Bottorf, J. (1993). The Adolescent Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire, Part I: Scale construction. Health Care Women International , 14(1), 39-62.
45.
Oliver, K. (2000). Bodily knowledge: Learning about equity & justice with adolescent girls. New York: Peter Lang.
46.
Radke-Yarrow, M., & Sherman, T. (1990). Hard growing: Children who survive. In J. Rolf et al. (Eds.), Risk and protective factors in the development of psychopathology (pp. 97-119). Cambridge , UK: Cambridge University Press.
47.
Rierdan, J., & Koff, E. (1985). Timing of menarche and initial menstrual experience . Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 14(3), 237-243.
48.
Rierdan, J., Koff, E., & Stubbs, M.L. (1989). Timing of menarche, preparation, and initial menstrual experience: Replication and further analyses in a prospective study. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 18(5), 413-426.
49.
Rogers, A.G. (1993). Response to sexual abuse: Creativity and courage. Works in Progress (Series 61). Wellesley, MA: Stone Center.
50.
Rogers, A.G. (1999). Two related layers of psychological trauma in the life-narratives of sexually abused girls. Unpublished manuscript.
51.
Ruble, D.N., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1982). The experience of menarche . Child Development, 53, 1557-1566.
52.
Simmons, R.G., & Blyth, D.A. (1987). Moving into adolescence: The impact of pubertal change and school context. New York: Aldine.
53.
Stattin, H., & Magnusson, D. (1990). Pubertal maturation in female development. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
54.
Steinberg, L. (1988). Reciprocal relation between parent-child distance and pubertal maturation. Developmental Psychology, 24, 122-128.
55.
Steiner-Adair, C. (1984). The body politic: Normal female adolescent development and the development of eating disorders. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Harvard University Graduate School of Education.
56.
Stern, L. (1991). Disavowing the self in female adolescence. In C. Gilligan, A. Rogers, & D. Tolman (Eds.), Women, girls, and psychotherapy: Reframing resistance (pp. 105-117). New York: Harrington Park.
57.
Stice, E., Presnell, K., & Bearman, S.K. (2001). Relation of early menarche to depression, eating disorders, substance abuse, and comorbid psychopathology among adolescent girls. Developmental Psychology, 37(5), 608-619.
58.
Stice, E., Presnell, K., Shaw, H., & Rohde, P. (2005). Psychological and behavioral risk factors for obesity onset in adolescent girls. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73(2), 195-202.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
61.
Swarr, A.E., & Richards, M.H. (1996). Longitudinal effects of adolescent girls' pubertal development, perceptions of pubertal timing, and parental relations on eating problems. Developmental Psychology , 32, 636-646.
62.
Terr, L. (1991). Childhood traumas: An outline and overview. American Journal of Psychiatry,148(1), 10-20.
63.
Trad, P.V., & Greenblatt, E. (1990). Psychological aspects of child stress: Development and the spectrum of coping responses. In L. E. Arnold (Ed.), Childhood stress (pp. 23-49). New York: John Wiley.
64.
Trickett, P.K., & Putnam, F.W. (1993). Impact of child sexual abuse on females: Toward a developmental, psychobiological integration. Psychological Science, 4(2), 81-87.
65.
van der Kolk, B.A., & Fisler, R.E. (1994). Childhood abuse and neglect and loss of self-regulation . Bulletin of the Meninger Clinic, 58(2), 145-168.
66.
Wierson, M., Long, P.J., & Forehand, R.L. (1993). Toward a new understanding of early menarche: The role of environmental stress in pubertal timing. Adolescence, 28(112), 913-924.
67.
Zimet, G.D., Dahlem, N.W., Zimet, S.G., & Farley, G.K. (1988). The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Journal of Personality Assessment, 52, 30-41.
