The Missing Politics and Unsettled Science of the Trend Toward Earlier Puberty

Abstract

The age of puberty in many populations has declined steeply over recent centuries and may be declining still. Consequently, today's children tend to experience the hormonal stresses of rapid development at younger ages than did their ancestors, around whose later, if not more gradual, maturation traditional behavioral expectations formed. Little has been made of this “rush to puberty” outside the life sciences. This article reviews its historical documentation, scholarly appreciation, epidemiological correlations, putative physiological and environmental explanations, sociological implications, and largely latent politics.