Socioeconomic Status, Race, and Girls' Pubertal Maturation: Results From the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods

Abstract

The goal of this study was to determine whether aspects of pubertal maturation vary across race/ethnicity. To this end, we investigated two components of pubertal maturation (i.e., onset of menarche and perceptions of pubertal timing) in a multiethnic, multisocioeconomic sample of urban adolescent girls (N = 866). There were 314 African American, 404 Latina, and 148 White adolescents across low, middle, and high socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds who completed self-report measures of these indicators of pubertal maturation. Adolescents' age at interview ranged from 8.1 to 16.44 years old (M = 12.08, SD = 2.38 years old). Primary caregivers reported information about each family's socioeconomic factors (e.g., primary caretaker's educational attainment, annual household income, and occupational prestige). At the time of the first assessment, 41% of the sample was menarcheal. The range of ages for onset of menarche was consistent across racial/ethnic groups. Results indicated that Latina girls reached me...