- 14 Feb 2024 04:08
#15304363
Researchers find that children from poor families begin puberty sooner
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/06/ ... ty-faster/
An interesting finding, and one that I have long suspected. When I saw this article, immediately my theory came to mind.
The researchers of course are assuming that something about being poor must accelerate the onset of puberty. But they don't seem to be considering the other possibility: that the two are correlated. There may be a tendency for the poorer segments of society to have genes that result in reproduction at earlier ages, and this would include sexual maturity.
This would correlated to, what is known in ecology/biology as r/R selection theory.
The idea being that different species, or population groups, will adapt their reproductive strategies in different directions, taking place under evolutionary pressure (natural selection). Some will invest heavily in their offspring to make sure they survive, while others will produce as many offspring as possible.
It appears that these researchers in the study did not adjust for the factor of race in their statistics. It would be interesting to see what the results of that would have been. I could be possible that most of the correlation they are seeing is due to race.
source: "Children in poverty hit puberty much earlier. This is why", World Economic Forum, Ying Sun - Associate Professor and Visiting Academic, Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, June 1, 2017
" Compared to white girls, African American girls experience more accelerated sexual maturation as assessed by several indicators of pubertal development, including age at first menses (Chumlea, 2003; Freedman et al., 2002; Herman Giddens et al., 1997; Wu, Mendola, & Buck, 2002) "
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6097246/
sources:
Chumlea WC, Schubert CM, Roche AF, Kulin HE, Lee PA, Himes JH, Sun SS. Age at menarche and racial comparisons in US girls. Pediatrics. 2003;111(1):110–113.
Herman Giddens ME, Slora EJ, Wasserman RC, Bourdony CJ, Bhapkar MV, Koch GG, Hasemeier CM. Secondary sexual characteristics and menses in young girls seen in office practice: A study from the pediatric research in office settings network. Pediatrics. 1997;99(4):505–512.
Relation of age at menarche to race, time period, and anthropometric dimensions: the Bogalusa Heart Study.
Freedman DS, Khan LK, Serdula MK, Dietz WH, Srinivasan SR, Berenson GS
Pediatrics. 2002 Oct; 110(4):e43.
I wonder if the r/K selection thing might be mostly psychological and cultural, rather than (or perhaps in addition to) actual observable physical developmental traits caused by genetics?
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/06/ ... ty-faster/
An interesting finding, and one that I have long suspected. When I saw this article, immediately my theory came to mind.
The researchers of course are assuming that something about being poor must accelerate the onset of puberty. But they don't seem to be considering the other possibility: that the two are correlated. There may be a tendency for the poorer segments of society to have genes that result in reproduction at earlier ages, and this would include sexual maturity.
This would correlated to, what is known in ecology/biology as r/R selection theory.
The idea being that different species, or population groups, will adapt their reproductive strategies in different directions, taking place under evolutionary pressure (natural selection). Some will invest heavily in their offspring to make sure they survive, while others will produce as many offspring as possible.
It appears that these researchers in the study did not adjust for the factor of race in their statistics. It would be interesting to see what the results of that would have been. I could be possible that most of the correlation they are seeing is due to race.
source: "Children in poverty hit puberty much earlier. This is why", World Economic Forum, Ying Sun - Associate Professor and Visiting Academic, Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, June 1, 2017
" Compared to white girls, African American girls experience more accelerated sexual maturation as assessed by several indicators of pubertal development, including age at first menses (Chumlea, 2003; Freedman et al., 2002; Herman Giddens et al., 1997; Wu, Mendola, & Buck, 2002) "
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6097246/
sources:
Chumlea WC, Schubert CM, Roche AF, Kulin HE, Lee PA, Himes JH, Sun SS. Age at menarche and racial comparisons in US girls. Pediatrics. 2003;111(1):110–113.
Herman Giddens ME, Slora EJ, Wasserman RC, Bourdony CJ, Bhapkar MV, Koch GG, Hasemeier CM. Secondary sexual characteristics and menses in young girls seen in office practice: A study from the pediatric research in office settings network. Pediatrics. 1997;99(4):505–512.
Relation of age at menarche to race, time period, and anthropometric dimensions: the Bogalusa Heart Study.
Freedman DS, Khan LK, Serdula MK, Dietz WH, Srinivasan SR, Berenson GS
Pediatrics. 2002 Oct; 110(4):e43.
I wonder if the r/K selection thing might be mostly psychological and cultural, rather than (or perhaps in addition to) actual observable physical developmental traits caused by genetics?
Last edited by Puffer Fish on 14 Feb 2024 04:20, edited 9 times in total.