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THURSDAY, Oct. 8, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
Kids who reach puberty<\/a> earlier than other kids are at an increased risk of harming themselves as teens<\/a>, British researchers report.<\/p>\n “Our study is the first to investigate the relationship between the timing of puberty<\/a> and self-harm using an objective measure of pubertal timing in boys,” said lead author Elystan Roberts, a researcher at the University of Bristol.<\/p>\n He said it’s important to find out why self-harm is on the rise among young people so that help can be provided to those who may be most at risk.<\/p>\n “We still don’t know a lot about the psychological effects of early puberty in boys because male pubertal timing is so hard to measure, so our results will be important for helping to reduce self-harm risk in boys as well as girls,” Roberts said in a university news release.<\/p>\n Co-author Becky Mars, from the University of Bristol’s Medical School, said biological factors such as brain development or hormone changes, or psychosocial factors such as bullying<\/a>, substance use or depression<\/a> may be involved.<\/p>\n “Once we have a better understanding of the reasons why early developers are more likely to self-harm, interventions can be designed and delivered to help reduce self-harm risk,” Mars said.<\/p>\n Data from more than 5,000 boys and girls showed that early puberty resulted in a higher risk for self-harm at age 16. For girls, the risk continued into adulthood.<\/p>\n Earlier studies have shown that those who experience earlier puberty are at greater risk of mental health<\/a> problems such as depression<\/a> and girls are at higher risk of self-harm. But these studies largely focused on girls or a combination of girls and boys.<\/p>\n The researchers looked at the time when boys and girls were growing in height the fastest — age 13.5 for boys and 11.8 for girls. They also looked at questionnaires participants filled out at age 16 and 21.<\/p>\n At 16, 10% of boys and 25% of girls reported harming themselves. By 21, 28% of men and 35% of women reported harming themselves.<\/p>\n Most of those had experienced early puberty, the researchers found. An early growth spurt was linked with a 15% increase in girls’ risk of self-harm at 16. For boys, it was linked with a 28% increase.<\/p>\n This might not show cause and effect, researchers noted, but they are large differences in risk.<\/p>\n The findings were published Oct. 6 in the journal Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences<\/i>.<\/p>\n — Steven Reinberg<\/p>\n ![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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