Parental communication and support is associated with improved developmental, health and behavioral outcomes in adolescence. This study explores the quality of mother-daughter communication about sexual maturation, abstinence and unintended pregnancy in Korogocho, an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. We use data from 14 focus group…

Mental rotation performance has been found to produce one of the largest sex differences in cognition accompanied by sex differences in functional cerebral asymmetry. Although sex differences in mental rotation performance can be reliably demonstrated as early as age 5 years old, that is, long before puberty, no data exist as to whether…

The changing male voice has long been a challenge, not only for students but also for directors who need to find just the right music to help students feel most successful. This article presents the key elements for success in selecting boys' literature: (1) Know the students' voices; (2) Range is everything; (3) Avoid pitches below A for tenors;…

This paper evaluates UNESCO's recommended sexuality educational framework for junior school students aged 5-8 years. It also compares it to an existing state-designed Health and Physical Education curriculum that includes sexual and reproductive health for the same cohort. Based on the universal values of respect and human rights, UNESCO's"…

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 =…

Very little is known about the neural underpinnings of language learning across the lifespan and how these might be modified by maturational and experiential factors. Building on behavioral research highlighting the importance of early word segmentation (i.e. the detection of word boundaries in continuous speech) for subsequent language learning,…

Stress is known to amplify the link between pubertal timing and psychopathology. However, few studies have examined the role of peer stress as a context for this link. The present study examined the interaction between perceived pubertal timing and peer stress on symptoms of psychopathology in early adolescence. The sample consisted of 264…

This study examined the effect of parental divorce on the time it took adolescents to initiate their first romantic relationships. Individual differences in temperament and pubertal development and the age of the adolescent at the time of divorce were also taken into account. Hypotheses were tested using event history analysis with a sample of…

In this article, the author expands our definition of "comprehensive sexuality education," broadening the discourse to something more ideal than what current rhetoric seems to suggest, and in the process presents the rationale for real comprehensive sexuality education. Current definitions of comprehensive sexuality education focus on prevention…

We investigated whether the link between early pubertal timing and initiation of weekly alcohol use is mediated by changes in perceived parental alcohol-specific rule setting and changes in perceived proportion of drinkers in the peer group. Longitudinal data including 3 annual waves were used to estimate the hazard for adolescents to initiate…

The global development community has focused in recent decades on closing the gender gap in education, but has given insufficient attention to the specific needs of pre- and post-pubescent girls as they transition to young womanhood within the educational institution. This study explored the social context of girls' experiences of menses and…

This study developed two specifications of the social skills deficit stress generation hypothesis: the "gender-incongruence" hypothesis to predict peer victimization and the "need for autonomy" hypothesis to predict conflict with authorities. These hypotheses were tested in a prospective large population cohort of 2,064 Dutch…

An accumulation of research evidence suggests that early pubertal timing plays a significant role in girls' behavioral and emotional problems. If early pubertal timing is a problematic event, then early developing Black girls should manifest evidence of this crisis because they tend to be the earliest to develop compared to other girls from…

The GOALS study (Grootschalig Onderzoek naar Activiteiten van Limburgse Scholieren [Large-scale Research of Activities in Dutch Students]) was set up to investigate possible associations between different forms of physical activity and inactivity with cognitive performance, academic achievement and mental well-being. It was conducted at a…

This study had three goals: (a) assessing the predictive association of externalizing and internalizing behaviors during childhood with sexual onset during early adolescence; (b) examining the interactive link of externalizing and internalizing behaviors with early sexual onset; and (c) investigating the moderating effect of gender in this…