'Early matured' teens likelier to suffer from depression

A new study has examined that teens who mature early are at higher risk of suffering from depression.

The study conducted by Karen Rudolph at the University of Illinois suggested that boys and girls who entered puberty ahead of their peers were vulnerable to a number of risks that were associated with depression and they had poorer self-images, greater anxiety, social problems, including conflict with family members and peers; and tended to befriend peers who were prone to getting into trouble.

Rudolph said that it was often believed that going through puberty earlier than peers only contributed to depression in girls and they found that early maturation could also be a risk for boys as they progressed through adolescence, but the timing was different than in girls.

Rudolph continued that in girls, early maturation seemed to trigger immediate psychological and environmental risks and consequent depression and pubertal changes caused early maturing girls to feel badly about themselves, cope less effectively with social problems, affiliate with deviant peers, enter riskier and more stressful social contexts and experience disruption and conflict within their relationships.

The study is published online by the journal Development and Psychopathology.