what is puberty?
it's a lot of things
Recently, there has been a debate over whether the age of puberty really is getting younger, by how much, and why.
One of the reasons for the confusion is that puberty is not a single event with a single cause. There are a lot of changes going on in different areas as the body morphs into that of an adult.
The average age for menarche, when a young woman gets her first period, hasn't changed much in recent times, at least if assessed in relation to weight rather than age. But because girls (on average) are a lot heavier than they used to be, menarche is occurring at an earlier age. Obviously, this added weight is not a sign of better health.
Adrenarche, or the maturation of the HPA axis, comes first, and the timing of adrenarche is what has so abruptly changed. Some doctors attempt to reassure parents by saying that the onset of these adult sex characteristics cannot really be called true puberty.
As parents with an eight-year-old child who has developed pubic hair and adult body odor, we don't care what it's called, we simply want it to stop. We don't want reassurance. We don't want to be told that because it's suddenly become a common occurrence, it should be considered normal.
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Early adrenarche was once called "Benign Premature Adrenarche," but now it has become apparent that it isn't so benign after all. Over time, the adult sex steroids produced by overactive adrenals sensitize the HPG axis, and true puberty quickly follows.
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