Stability of perceived pubertal timing among rural adolescents

Background. Pubertal timing, a measure of how developed an adolescent is in relation to peers, has been linked to adolescent risk behavior. One measurement challenge is that pubertal development is ongoing, so self-perception of development in relation to peers could vary. The purpose of this study is to examine the stability of self-reported pubertal timing among a diverse sample of rural adolescents aged 11 to 17.

Methods. Participants in this study (n=6425, 50% female, 53% white) are from a longitudinal cohort study of adolescents from the Southeast. Participants were in grades 6-8 at baseline and were interviewed in school every semester for 2.5 years. Adolescents were asked one item about how they believed their physical development compared with others of their own age and sex (1=much earlier to 5=much later). Random-effects ANOVA models were conducted to determine the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) as an indicator of the measure's stability. An ICC below .40 implies poor stability, .40 to .59 is fair, .60 to .74 is good, and above .75 is excellent.

Results. The overall ICC was .39. Females had a higher ICC than males, and white participants had a higher ICC than minority participants.

Conclusions. Perceived pubertal timing showed poor to fair stability, indicating that individual perception of development changes throughout adolescence. Research on the link between pubertal timing and adolescent behavior has varied, which could be due to measurement. Future studies of pubertal timing need to consider the measure's variation before making conclusions about pubertal timing and behavior.