Abstract
This study investigated whether menarche is associated with depression when its onset is at the very early extreme of the normal age range. Girls who were postmenarcheal at the beginning of the sixth grade, comprising less than 10% of a sample of girls in that grade, were classified as very early maturers; their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory, short form (BDIs), were compared with those of their premenarcheal peers. Additionally, postmenarcheal seventh graders, who comprised 30% of a sample of girls in that grade, were compared to their premenarcheal peers on the BDIs. Results were that postmenarcheal sixth graders were significantly more depressed than their premenarcheal peers, but that postmenarcheal and premenarcheal seventh graders did not differ significantly. The results suggest that very early menarche is associated with higher levels of depression than more normative menarcheal timing.
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This research was supported by Grant 16034 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Some portions of the data were cited previously at meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development and the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research.
Received Ph.D. from Clark University. Major interest is in clinical-developmental psychology. To whom reprint requests should be addressed.
Received Ph.D. from Tufts University. Major interests are psychobiology and adolescent development
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Rierdan, J., Koff, E. Depressive symptomatology among very early maturing girls. J Youth Adolescence 20, 415–425 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537183
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537183