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A question of male maturation: boys to men too soon?

Some findings indicate the age boys reach puberty is decreasing -- a concept that raises questions about causes, responses and health implications.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, amednews staff. Oct. 8, 2001.

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Boys may be starting to turn into men younger than ever, according to a study published in the September Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Researchers say this finding raises concern about the causes and the unknown health consequences over the long term.

"It's probably not healthy since earlier studies have shown that the sooner a boy starts puberty, the higher his risk is of developing testicular cancer, just as early-maturing girls are at greater risk of developing breast cancer," said Marcia Herman-Giddens, MPH, DrPH, lead author of the paper.

"Then there are the implications for sex education and preparing children for the psychosocial challenges of puberty, as well as the consequences of earlier sexual activity," she added.

Dr. Herman-Giddens, adjunct professor of maternal and child health at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has also published studies finding earlier puberty in girls. In the most recent article, she and other researchers followed boys' maturation by charting pubic hair and genital development in more than 2,000 research subjects. They found that these physical signs of maturation were occurring at earlier ages than noted in previous studies.

Physicians who treat children say, however, that they are not seeing large numbers of boys maturing earlier.

"That's not what exists in the real clinical world," said Edward O. Reiter, MD, chair of the department of pediatrics at Baystate Medical Center Children's Hospital in Springfield, Mass., who wrote the accompanying editorial in the Archives. "I don't think puberty is beginning earlier." [...]