Pubertal Timing, Overweight, and Psychological Adjustment

Different aspects of pubertal timing and of weight were examined in relation to body image, global negative self-evaluations, depressive tendencies, and perceived instability of self-concept among a sample of 1,109 girls and 1,256 boys, aged 13 through 16 years. Perceived early maturation was related significantly to poor body image and global negative self-evaluations in girls in the sixth and eighth grades, and the same tendency was found in seventh graders. Late maturation was generally associated with negative self-evaluations in boys, whereas early maturation was related to more positive evaluations. However, some findings also indicated negative effects of early maturation in boys. The negative effects of perceived early timing in girls could not be explained by overweight. Furthermore, relative overweight showed a significant relationship with poor psychological adjustment, even when controlling for pubertal timing. Thus early timing and overweight appear to contribute independently of each other to girls `negative self-evaluations in this period