Theme 1 Project 10
| Project
title |
Puberty
and Psychosocial Development |
|
Researchers |
Dr
Jo Williams (Education & Society,
School of Education) University of Edinburgh |
|
Keywords |
Puberty;
risk behaviour; psychological adjustment; adolescence; developmental
behaviour |
|
Abstract |
Typically
developing adolescents exhibit a large degree of variation in the
sequence and timing of pubertal development. Some adolescents achieve
puberty relatively early, and some relatively late, compared to the
majority of their age-peers. My research takes a developmental psychology
approach and has shown over a number of studies that early puberty
among boys and girls is linked with greater rates of delinquency,
higher incidences of smoking, drinking and drug use, lower self-esteem
and poorer body-image, and negative eating attitudes. There is some
evidence that late developers also differ in these psychological
variables from on-time developers. The findings add to a growing
body of research, primarily from the USA, that highlights the importance
of physical developmental changes for adolescent adjustment.
(I
am currently supervising a number of final year undergraduate psychology
dissertations in this area and hope to encourage PhD applications
on this topic.) |
Publications |
Williams,
J.M. & Dunlop, L.C. (1999). Pubertal timing and self-reported
delinquency among male adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 22, 157-171.
Williams, J.M. & Currie, C.E. (2000). Self-esteem and Physical Development
during Early Adolescence: Pubertal Timing and Body Image. Journal of
Early Adolescence. In press
Currie, C.E. & Williams, J.M. (2000). Smoking and puberty among girls:
a weight or a pubertal timing issue? Journal of Adolescence. Under review |
| Start
/end date |
1998
- Ongoing |
|
Funder
/amount |
Internal |
|
|
