title: The timing of sexual maturation among boys and girls in eastern Poland, 1980-2000: a rural-urban comparison.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine secular changes in the sexual maturation of children and adolescents from Eastern regions of Poland between 1980 and 2000, with special attention paid to rural-urban differences. Our sample comprised 34,055 girls and 28,100 boys from 9 to 18 years of age. The age at which each gender reached each stage of sexual maturation was examined, along with menarcheal age in girls. An increase in the rate of sexual maturation was observed over the 20-year period of this study. Menarcheal age in girls decreased by 0.59 years. The length of sexual maturation decreased: from 6.58 years to 3.85 years in girls and from 5.84 years to 3.65 years in boys. A significantly faster rate of sexual maturation was observed between 1990 and 2000. Over the entire 20-year period, adolescents living in rural settings experienced a slower rate of sexual maturation than did their urban peers.
authors.affiliation: University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport in Biała Podlaska, Biała Podlaska, Poland. helena_poplawska@poczta.onet.pl
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Popławska
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wilczewski
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dmitruk
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hołub
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011044:Poland; D012424:Rural Population; D012741:Sexual Maturation / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population