Psychosocial Problems of Preadolescent Girls with Early onset of Puberty

Abstract

Article InfoAlthough puberty is a natural event, early puberty poses a risk for number of psychosocial problems. Among preadolescent girls, early puberty is associated with increased risk of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, low self-esteem, sexual victimization, behavioural problems and substance abuse. This study was conducted to identify psychosocial problems among preadolescent girls with early onset of puberty by using an explorative descriptive design. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 100 preadolescent girls between 10-12 years and attained menarche, from 5 th , 6 th and 7 th standards of 4 private schools in Kottayam District of Kerala. Majority of the (69%) preadolescent girls were residing in rural area and 53% had their first menstruation between the ages of 11-12 years. The mean score of the psychosocial problem was 118.73/280±26.7. Maximum score was found to be in the area of eating disorders (6.52/12±2.05) followed by anxiety (34.09/68 ±8.72).The lowest score was found in the area of sexual abuse (3.5/12±1.32). There was an association between substance abuse with age, anxiety and eating disorders with religion, depression and education of mother at 0.05 level of significance.