Black Girls Leading the Way
There is growing anecdotal evidence that young children, especially African American girls, are reaching puberty at earlier and earlier ages.
St. Louis Children's Hospital pediatric endocrinologist Bess Marshall says the apparent trend is sending "a panic through parents."
Nationwide, experts in the field believe they are seeing increasing numbers of females entering puberty as young as age eight and Black girls appear to be reaching puberty a year earlier than white girls.
According to Dr. Marshall public hair and breast buds appear to be developing earlier but the start of the menstrual cycle (as early as age 10 but normally around age 12) does not appear to be changing.
Interestingly, the earlier entrance into puberty seems to be taking place almost exclusively among girls. There is no clear indication that boys are entering puberty at earlier ages.
The anecdotal evidence prompted the National Institutes of Health to announce recently that it will soon begin a major study of the apparent trend.
Meanwhile, some experts believe that being overweight tends to send females into puberty at younger ages.
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