This article documents the framework, central principles and curricular plan for a parent-led puberty education program facilitated with a small group of Latina adolescents. In a moment of increasing awareness of the centrality of race, puberty education has remained steeped in a colorblind framework; this parent-led program seeks to offer a…

Adverse experiences throughout development confer risk for a multitude of negative long-term outcomes, but the processes via which these experiences are neurobiologically embedded are still unclear. Adolescence provides an opportunity to understand how these experiences impact the brain's rapidly changing structure. Two models are central to…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether school discipline sanctions issued to female students are attributed to their racial background and developmental status and if this relation differs by teacher's racial/ethnic background and discipline philosophy. Drawing from a sample of 515 practicing educators from the United States, the authors…

The age of the onset of menstruation, termed menarche, has been declining for decades worldwide. Approximately 12% of Australian girls reach menarche between eight to 11 years of age. Current health and physical education subject guidelines from the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority state that puberty education should be…

Increasing research shows pubertal development accelerates following threats while it decelerates following deprivation. Yet, these environmental stressors are unlikely to occur in isolation. We investigated how war exposure and energetic stress impact pubertal development using data from the longitudinal Biological Pathways of Risk and Resilience…

Based on the "Differential Susceptibility Theory," we examined whether the relationship between pubertal maturation and depressive symptoms can be moderated by individual differences in environmental sensitivity. The current article used the three-wave data collected from Japanese adolescents aged from 12 to 15 years (girls = 111,…

Background: Parents play an important role in shaping young people's sexual lives and behaviours with implications for their current and future sexual and reproductive health. This study examined the perspectives of rural Zimbabwean parents on young people's sexual health. Design: Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 19 (6 men…

Objective: The documented decline in age at menarche is concerning as early pubertal development presents immediate and long-term health risks. Menarcheal timing is influenced by environmental factors, necessitating the importance of increased education within the health sciences curricula. This study examined health professions students'…

This article draws on grounded theory and ethnographic fieldwork approaches and applies a political ecology of adolescent health (PEAH) framework to examine how school-going adolescent girls and their communities perceive sexual and reproductive health education (SRHE) and menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in the region. Three young girls were…

Memorable messages, or messages people recall for a long period of time and identify as influential in identity development or behavioral assessment, provide a framework to address both adolescent advice and development and to identify areas that were absent from pivotal conversations like "the talk." In this qualitative survey study, we…

The sex bias in autism diagnosis suggests the involvement of sex-specific endocrine mechanisms during prenatal development, but these hormones affect health throughout life. Therefore, the current study examined the association of autism and autistic traits with conditions and symptoms related to the sex-steroid system in adult women. In total,…

This study examined individual and familial influences on Black female adolescents' (N = 1426) sexual pleasure expectancies, sexual guilt, and age of sexual debut using data from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent to Adult Health. Results indicated significant differences between Black female adolescents that were sexually active and…

The purpose of this pilot study was to expand understanding of the experience of menstruation for girls in the United States and its impact in the school setting. A qualitative approach was used to gather data from focus group interviews. Descriptive content analysis was used to categorize the range and types of menstruation experiences described…

This article reports on an ethnographic study to understand the practices of sexuality education (SE) in relation to what young girls want to learn in a primary school Ethiopia. This is done by means of school observations, FGD with female students and interviews with SE teachers. The study shows the observed SE focuses mainly on issues of…

Background: Breast health education could alleviate breast concerns reported by adolescent girls. Purpose: This article describes the development and psychometric properties of a survey to measure knowledge in multiple aspects related to breasts, attitudes to breasts and breast issues and the likelihood of engagement with positive breast habits…