title: Reliability of pubertal maturation self-assessment in a school-based survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the reliability of pubertal self-assessment of Thai adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Some 927 girls and 997 boys, aged 8-18 years, from nine schools in Hat-Yai municipality.
  
  
  METHODS
  The adolescents evaluated their pubertal status after being shown a line drawing of the five Tanner stages with a short description. Girls assessed their breast and pubic hair development, and boys assessed their pubic hair development. The pubertal self-assessments were compared to pubertal assessments made by a pediatrician who examined the children after their self-assessment. Kappa coefficient and percent agreement were used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percent agreement of breast and pubic hair development between the girl's self-assessments and the assessments by the pediatrician were 60.8% and 78%, respectively. Kappa coefficient for breast assessment was 0.50 (95% confidence interval, CI 0.47-0.53) and for pubic hair 0.68 (95% CI 0.65-0.72). Nearly 30% of girls aged younger than 10 years overestimated their breast development status while 45% of girls aged over 14 years underestimated their breast development (p<0.001). For boys, the percent agreement of pubic hair development between the adolescents and the pediatrician was 76.4%, with a weighted kappa coefficient of 0.68 (95% CI 0.65-0.72).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pubertal self-assessment using line drawings with a short description can be used as a reliable method to assess pubic hair maturation in boys and girls, but can be used with less reliability to assess the breast maturation in young girls.
authors.forename: Somchit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jaruratanasirikul
authors.forename: Piyawut
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kreetapirom
authors.forename: Nattaporn
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tassanakijpanich
authors.forename: Hutcha
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sriplung
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001940:Breast / Q000254:growth & development; D002648:Child; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D003940:Diagnostic Techniques, Endocrine / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000254:growth & development; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D011627:Puberty / Q000523:psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012574:Schools; D012741:Sexual Maturation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires