During adolescence, increases in pubertal hormones lead to reproductive maturity as well as changes in cognitive development. Yet, little is known about how to best characterize interindividual differences in hormone concentrations. The goal of the current study was to examine the antecedents and consequences of membership in empirically derived…

Student-reported quality and coverage of school-based relationships and sex education (RSE) vary, with gender/sexual-minority and disadvantaged students reporting poorer provision. Experience of RSE among younger adolescents is under-explored. We examined student-reported RSE coverage and priorities and how coverage, and sexual-health knowledge…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of relative age on selected biomotoric skills of children in puberty period. The sample of this research consisted of 30 male and 30 female students who have been studying at primary schools and on 9 age period. Identity info was grounded on determining chronologic ages of participants. In…

This study examined the association of friendships and popularity with adolescents' first-time involvement in a romantic relationship (referred to as romantic relationship debut). The aim of this article was twofold: first, to disentangle the unique effects of friendships and perceived popularity; second, to separate same- and cross-gender peer…

Secondary data analyses from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children Kindergarten cohort were performed to understand any alterations in pubertal timing in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in a population sample. Timing of parent-reported pubertal events (ages 8-9, 10-11, 12-13 years), and self-report (14-15 years; N = 3454 no ASD, N = 94 with…

This article explores how Thai culture, gender and age influence sex education in Thailand, and how online sources and social media have emerged as an alternative source of sex education among young people. Qualitative data was gathered by means of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions from 99 young people aged 15-24 years of various…

A systematic literature review was conducted to assess the utility of Positive Youth Development (PYD) concepts in promoting positive sexual health behaviors in young minority adolescents (n = 12 studies). Interventions reported significant associations between PYD-focused interventions and ever having sex, sexual partners in the last 30 days,…

Support for sex education in middle and high school and for the inclusion of a variety of topics in sex education programmes is strong among likely voters in the USA. This survey was conducted with a diverse sample of 965 adults who were invited from the largest probability-based panel in the USA. In addition to supporting sex education in…

This study tested the association between multiple prenatal and postnatal early life factors and adolescent sexual orientation in a longitudinal birth cohort. Factors included birth weight, gestational age, parental age at birth, number of older brothers and sisters, breastfeeding, maternal anxiety/depression, family socioeconomic position,…

This study examined pubertal maturation, pubertal timing and outcomes, and the relationship of puberty and sexual identity developmental milestones among 507 lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth. The onset of menarche and spermarche occurred at the mean ages of 12.05 and 12.46, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in…

Although voluminous research has linked nonresident fatherhood to riskier sexual behavior in adolescence, including earlier sexual debut, neither the causality of that link nor the mechanism accounting for it has been well-established. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979--the Young Adult Survey (CNLSY-YA), the present…

Executive functions and social cognition develop through childhood into adolescence and early adulthood and are important for adaptive goal-oriented behavior (Apperly, Samson, & Humphreys, 2009; Blakemore & Choudhury, 2006). These functions are attributed to frontal networks known to undergo protracted maturation into early adulthood…

Even though boys and girls in childhood perform similarly in math and spatial thinking, after puberty fewer young women pursue majors that emphasize abilities such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in college. If postpubertal feminization contributes to a lower likelihood of choosing STEM majors, then young women who enter…

We investigated longitudinal predictors for disordered eating from early adolescence to young adulthood (12-34 years) across gender and different developmental phases among Norwegian young people. Survey data from a population-based sample were collected at four time points (T) over a 13-year time span. A population-based sample of 5,679 females…

The often observed decline in students' self-perceptions across transition to secondary school after grade 6 is often attributed to students' entry to puberty. This study aims to examine whether lowered self-perceptions can be observed after transition in Germany which occurs after grade 4 and thus takes place before puberty. Fifth graders (N =…