Empathy is an important social skill and is believed to play an essential role in moral development (Hoffman, 2000). In the present longitudinal study, the authors investigated adolescents' development of perspective taking and empathic concern from age 13 to 18 years (mean age at Wave 1 = 13 years, SD = 0.46) and examined its association with…

The authors' previous work and the data reported in the preceding chapters of this monograph provide conclusive evidence of the persistent nature of the negative impact of early severe deprivation. Institutional deprivation, despite the good outcomes for many, was often associated with substantial impairment and disorder across a wide range of…

Adolescents with varying combinations of pubertal delay and growth retardation were given the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire. Delay in sexual maturation by itself had no deleterious effect on self-image but growth retardation did. (Author/GK)

This book combines short stories with clear, factual health information for adolescent females about menstruation and their bodily changes they are experiencing. It focuses on young girls' concerns and questions about menstruation and educates through a combination of the front matter and the stories themselves. Coming from different generations…

A total of 20 children with idiopathic precocious puberty; 27 adolescents with clinically delayed puberty; and an equivalent number of controls matched for sex, age, and IQ were given a battery of tests including measures of verbal and spatial abilities and a task using a dichotic listening procedure to assess hemispheric lateralization.…

Pubertal changes in girls and boys are treated differently in New Zealand schools. Girls learn about menstruation in a scientific, bleak manner, getting an unrealistic picture of growing up. Boys receive positive information about exciting, powerful bodily changes. By protecting girls from problems associated with menstruation, schools risk…

The psychological experience of ejaculation was examined for 188 Nigerian adolescent boys to determine emotional reactions, feelings of preparedness, sources of preexperience information, and the extent of peer discussion after the experience. The experience was not perceived negatively, and boys usually told their friends. Most suppliers of…

Relationships between biological pubertal events and self-image were studied for 59 healthy adolescent boys in Finland at ages 13 and 14. During the year, self-image increased in four domains, with changes in Impulse Control and Emotional Tone related to pubertal events. Changes in emotional health or sexual attitudes did not correlate with body…

Tested three hypotheses concerning effects of pubertal timing on substance use during early adolescence. Findings supported only the stage termination hypothesis. Early maturing boys and girls reported a higher frequency of substance use within the following year after puberty than did the other participants, with the effects being more pronounced…

From 1964-71, 323 pairs of twins and 740 age-matched controls born in 1954-55, were investigated. Compared to schoolchildren in 1880 and 1940 the children in the present study were taller, reached maturity earlier and passed through puberty faster. No differences between socioeconomic strata defined by father's occupation and family income were…

A study of 55 growth-disturbed children, aged 8-17, was conducted to assess how rate of physical maturation and pubertal development influences cognitive and neuropsychological functioning. The sample included 27 boys with short stature and delayed pubertal development (SSB), 15 girls with delayed puberty (DPG), and 13 girls with precocious…