Original articleSocial cognitions associated with pubertal development in a sample of urban, low-income, African-American and Latina girls and mothers
Section snippets
Association between pubertal development and sexual behavior
Puberty is characterized by rapid and conspicuous changes (13) in physical appearance, most notably in height and development of secondary sex characteristics, and maturation of the internal reproductive structures. Although defined in biological terms, puberty has been of interest to many social scientists because of the associations between pubertal development and behavior changes, particularly with regard to sexual behaviors (14). Under study are both the sociosexual effects of the maturing
Social cognitive changes associated with pubertal development in girls
A major task of adolescence is adjusting to the somatic and endocrine changes associated with puberty, as well as to the new or unexpected reactions of others in their social relationships (27). Using a symbolic interactionist framework, adolescents are expected to make these adjustments in part by developing social cognitions based on their interactions with primary socialization agents (i.e., family and peers). According to this theory, social meaning is derived from interactions with others
Participants
The sample of mothers and daughters was recruited from local neighborhoods of the Washington Heights and Upper Harlem communities of New York City. Women were approached in public areas of the local community by two women working on this project (with at least one being African-American or Latina) and invited to take part in a focus group discussion about girls’ experiences of sex, dating, and relationships. Other recruitment methods employed in this project included distributing posters and
Participant demographics
Descriptive data for participants are described in detail elsewhere (37). Most mothers were African-American (51%) or Latina (48%) and between the ages of 31 and 35 years (25%) and 36 and 40 years (27%). All but two of the Latina mothers were born in the United States, typically originating from the Dominican Republic (75%). Of the 57 mothers of girls aged 10–13 years, only 31 were asked to provide information about their daughters’ pubertal status. Of these 31 mothers, 27 indicated that their
Discussion
The current study employed focus group methods to explore the nature of social cognitions of urban girls at puberty. We were able to obtain a rich source of data regarding the range of current perspectives of urban girls, their mothers, and same-sex peers. Rather than acquiring information regarding the impact of just some aspects of puberty, such as menarche, on self-evaluations or development of sexual self-concepts (6), we examined both personal and social meanings of pubertal development
Acknowledgements
A preliminary report of the data was presented at the joint annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists, Arlington, Virginia, November 12–16, 1997. This research was supported in part by NIMH Center Grant 2-P50-MH43520 to Anke A. Ehrhardt, an NIMH Fellowship Training Grant T32-MH19139 (Program Director: Zena Stein), and a Sexuality Research Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council to
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