title: Is psychopathology associated with the timing of pubertal development?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This investigation tested whether the timing of pubertal development was associated with concurrent and prior experiences of psychopathology (symptoms and disorders) in adolescent boys and girls.
  
  
  METHODS
  A large (N = 1,709) community sample of high school students were interviewed using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children as adapted for use in epidemiological studies. Adolescents also completed a questionnaire battery covering a range of psychosocial variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analyses tested whether pubertal timing was associated with present and lifetime history of mental disorders, psychological symptoms, and psychosocial functioning. As hypothesized, early-maturing girls and late-maturing boys showed more evidence of psychopathology than other same-gender adolescents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early-maturing girls had the poorest current and lifetime history of adjustment problems, indicating that this pattern of pubertal development merits attention by mental health providers and researchers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Graber
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Lewinsohn
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Seeley
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brooks-Gunn
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D011599:Psychopathology; D011627:Puberty / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012741:Sexual Maturation