The impact of puberty, sexual attitudes, and parental relationships on depressive symptomatology among African American girls.

This study investigated the effects of pubertal development on the psychological functioning of African-American girls. The participants were 9--16 year-old girls (N = 97) residing in urban areas of Detroit, Michigan. Three self-report measures of pubertal development (breast/axillary hair growth, girls' perceived development compared to their peers, and the amount of time that had elapsed since menarche) were utilized to predict levels of depressive symptomatology. Whether or not girls had begun their menstrual cycles (menarcheal status) was explored as a possible moderator of the effects of pubertal development on depressive symptomatology. In addition, three factors (girls' sexual attitudes, perceived parental control, and perceived parental approval) were examined as possible mediators of the relationships between pubertal development and depressive symptoms. Menarcheal status was a statistically significant moderator of the effects of breast/axillary hair growth on depressive symptomatology. For girls who had begun their periods, the more breast and axillary hair they reported, the higher their levels of depressive symptoms. Girls' sexual attitudes was a significant mediator of the effects of breast hair growth on depressive symptoms. As the time since menarche increased, levels of depressive symptomatology increased. Perceived parental control was a significant mediator of the effects of the number of years since menarche and depressive symptoms. Perceived parental approval suppressed the effects of perceived accelerated development on girls' depressive symptomatology.PhDBlack studiesClinical psychologyDevelopmental psychologyPsychologySocial SciencesSocial psychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/132419/2/9963846.pd