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Writer's pictureSkylar Hunnewell
May 53 min read

Why do Adopted Children Hit Puberty Earlier?


Precocious puberty is a condition in which a child begins puberty abnormally early. This is usually defined as 7 years old for girls, and 8 years old for boys. Precocious puberty is substantially more common in girls.  A variety of causes for this condition have been identified and speculated on, including childhood obesity and exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals such as fluoride and BPA. However, adoption is another factor associated with precocious puberty, and researchers are unsure why. This article will discuss the correlation between adoption in precocious puberty and the theories of why this occurs. 


Nutritional Stress

One major predictive factor of precocious puberty is low birth weight, which is extremely common in children who are adopted internationally. Rapid catch-up growth in general is a predictor of early puberty, and this growth can be particularly quick in children who are adopted internationally. This is also demonstrated in the fact that mothers who put their children up for adoption from developing nations often have nutritional deficiencies, and children who are adopted well after birth also experience nutritional stress in their early life. 


Trauma and Precocious Puberty

Traumatic childhood events of many kinds have been shown to result in earlier age of puberty. One study found that girls located closer to the worst devastation of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake were substantially more likely to develop precocious puberty. Additionally, girls who were victims of child abuse, sexual abuse, or domestic violence in early childhood were much more likely to develop precocious puberty. Negative family circumstances also tend to predict precocious puberty, particularly if there is an absence of a father figure or if the father exhibits criminal behavior. Precocious puberty has also been associated with a generally turbulent home life and lack of emotional connection with parents. 

Many studies have proven that girls who live in low income regions tend to hit puberty and overall mature earlier, regardless of their weight (which is a significant factor in predicting precocious puberty.) This is reflected in the fact that kids in low income areas tend to participate in more adult behaviors (like drinking, smoking, and sex) earlier than their peers from higher income areas. Children in lower income areas are also more likely to be victims of or witness violence both in and outside of the home. 

This has led many researchers to believe that precocious puberty may be a result of circumstances that are understood by our subconscious as life-threatening. In nature, a living thing has two main goals: to stay alive and to make more life, in that order. In a high risk world, the body wants to do everything to ensure that both of those things happen. Therefore, if there is an immediate threat to a child’s life that is out of their control, the body will trigger puberty earlier in order to ensure that the child would have the opportunity to reproduce, just in case their life is cut short.

Considering this, many researchers believe that life-threatening circumstances in early life (prior to adoption) cause precocious puberty as a way to ensure species survival. This would explain why children who were adopted both internationally and domestically are likely to experience precocious puberty. 


Emotional Factors of Adoption

However, while it hasn’t been fully investigated yet, many researchers have proposed that there may be an emotional factor to precocious puberty. This emotional factor may come from the separation of the child from the mother. This explains why young children who migrate with their families from life threatening situations (e.g. war, famine) at a young age do not have the same risk for precocious puberty. Since this is a psychological factor, it is much more difficult to investigate the medical effects of it. More research is needed on this theory. 


Conclusion

While researchers are not sure why it occurs, adoption has been shown to be a significant risk factor in the development of precocious puberty. One suspected factor is rapid growth-catch up after adoption. However, this does not explain the fact that girls adopted domestically are also more likely to develop precocious puberty. Another theory is that trauma in early childhood causes precocious puberty, which does explain why children adopted domestically may also experience precocious puberty. This theory, however, doesn’t explain why children who migrate from dangerous circumstances such as war and famine do not experience precocious puberty. Some researchers have therefore proposed that there may be an emotional factor to causing precocious puberty. However, this theory is in need of more research. 


Further Reading

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