PUBERTAL CHANGES AND PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOP MENT IN ADOLESCENTS - AN OVERVIEW OF RECENT RESEARCH

For decades, the interplay between pubertal changes and psychosocial d evelopment was rarely a focus of research in German speaking countries . By contrast, in North America and Scandinavia, a large body of resea rch evolved, especially addressing the role of biological processes in adolescents' development. Aspects of particular interest were individ ual differences in the timing and pace of pubertal changes. Recently, a shift in emphasis has taken place, focusing no longer on pubertal ti ming as an antecedent of changes in adolescents' behavior, but rather on the precursors of differences in pubertal timing itself. The latter are seen in stressful interactions between parents and offspring emer ging over considerable periods of time during childhood. This review b egins with a discussion of the methods used in the assessment of puber tal processes. We then present major conceptual issues and results of empirical investigations concerning the consequences of individual dif ferences in pubertal timing on various aspects of the self-concept, on social relationships, and on internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Finally, results are discussed on the role of family strain s and other risk factors in early maturation. In addition to a large n umber of studies from the international arena, some recent German inve stigations are highlighted.