Adolescent girls with idiopathic central precocious puberty: Typical character traits

It has been reported that girls at onset of idiopathic central precocious p uberty (ICPP) and during treatment have symbiotic character traits. The aim of this study was to investigate the development of character in a group o f adolescents. Ten adolescent girls aged 14 years treated for ICPP were eva luated. All the adolescents in the study had a negative body image compared with age-matched controls and expressed a strong inhibition of their femin inity. Their poor body image is reflected by their limited self-esteem. The se adolescents have not been able to operate a reorganization of their affe ctive life and therefore go through the necessarily slow and painful separa tion from their family, Symbiotic traits are "hard-wired" into their lives. These results suggest that at ICPP onset, in addition to setting up an edu cational program for the parents, it is equally important to supply psychol ogical support for the patients in order to gain a better interaction betwe en biological, psychological and cultural influences.