The aim of this study was to compare pubertal development between the two main ethnic groups in the Cape, controlling for social class. This study aimed to investigate: 1. The age of menarche and other stages of pubertal development of white and coloured school girls living in greater Cape Town. 2. The relationship between the age of menarche and the other stages of pubertal development, social class and race. 3. The influence of home environment (childminder, sibling number, maternal education) on onset of menarche and breast development. This data further contributes to a larger study on pubertal development of all representative ethnic groups and social classes in the Cape. Our hypothesis is that social class, and not race, is a major determinant of pubertal development.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Community Psychology) Faculty of Arts University of Zululand, 2010. / The lives of individuals in all societies are a series of passages from one age to another and from one occupation to the other. Among the Vhavenda, there are fine distinctions among age or occupational groups and progression from one group to the next is accompanied by special rituals enveloped in ceremonies which involve actions that are clearly regulated and guarded so that the entire society suffer no discomfort or injury. The research explores and describes the lived experiences of Vha-Venda initiated women in the rural areas of Mashau, Mashawana and Shayandima village in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The perception that transition practices, otherwise known as initiation rituals or rites of passage, are only practiced in the ‘traditional’ societies because it is believed to be where the culture is embedded. This study draws on qualitative research principles based on the ethnographic approach. This research explores and describes the lived experiences of initiation of Venda women that is practiced and currently being implemented in the three villages that is, Mashau, Mashawana and Shayandima village in Limpopo Province, South Africa. As a result, this study is informed by the qualitative data gathered during the initial stages of the research with the assistance of research guides. The core material in this study emerges from in depth, semi-structured interviews conducted during individual interviews and focus group interviews with fifteen initiated women and two research guides between the age of thirty and sixty. The research guides, with special knowledge of the culture assisted the researcher on the process and activities of the initiation and also informed the researcher about the venues where certain rituals take place and also assisted in translation of certain phrases for clarification. In compliance with research ethics, the identities of the respondents remain confidential through the use of pseudonyms. The research concludes that the lived experiences of women initiation are private and one is strictly prohibited to talk about them, especially with uninitiated women. The aim is to portray the traditional social and cultural ritual proposed to be learnt and preserved. In this study, the researcher’s findings are that: Conformity, compliance and obedience with the initiation rituals can save a person from embarrassment in Limpopo Province where initiation is practiced. Participants reported that women are silenced and forbidden to talk about initiation outside ‘dombani’ with the uninitiated women. They reported that the initiation ritual is secret and thus a taboo to talk about it. Initiates are prohibited to disclose what happens during the initiation process. In contrast, uninitiated women viewed the ritual as barbaric and promiscuous. The initiated indicated that they were forced to attend because of fear of rejection, discrimination and isolation by the community. Other participants agreed to have attended for the sake of acceptance, though they believed to have gained knowledge about understanding womanhood. Most of the women mentioned that although it was some years that they had attended the initiation school, they still carried the burden of anger, shame, humiliation, frustration, low-self esteem, sense of helplessness and lack confidence and still find it hard to share their experiences or talk about them. The researcher concurs with the participants and Stayt (1968) that initiated women are denied freedom of expression. It is sticky prohibited to talk or share the initiation experiences with the non- initiated let alone discuss it outside dombani. Thereby, the aim, and its concomitant 4 objectives, have been thoroughly explored and achieved.

Objectives: To analyze the association between age at menarche, as a measure of sexual maturation, and adult height from ten published studies. Methods: Compared published measurements of age at menarche, adult height, and within-sample relationships observed in ten studies, for women from several societies and socioeconomic backgrounds, living in the 20th century, Results: In these studies, early maturers were taller during pre-puberty, but had shorter adult height then later maturers. Late maturers experience a longer period of pre-pubertal growth and a delayed age of peak height velocity, leading to an extended overall time of growth, until adult stature was obtained. Conclusions: Improved living conditions and energy balance increase childhood growth rate, and are associated with an earlier puberty, and shorter duration of growth. In developed countries duration of growth may play an increasingly important role in adult stature.

Background: Age-standardised mortality rates for cardiovascular disease (CVD) are generally higher among men than women, prompting suggestions that reproductive factors may be partly responsible. Moreover, there have been major changes in women’s reproductive patterns and CVD rates in China over the last few decades, but the association between them is still poorly understood. Objectives: To start addressing these issues, this thesis examines the secular trends and correlates of age at menarche and menopause (the major physiological events defining a woman’s reproductive window), as well as their association with blood pressure and anthropometry in 302,180 women born in 1930-74 from 10 areas across China using cross-sectional demographic, behavioural, physical and reproductive data from the China Kadoorie Biobank. Results: Mean age at menarche decreased by 2 years over a 44-year period (1930-1974), with the exception of an increase of about 1 year for women exposed to the Great Chinese Famine in early adolescence. No other factor showed as large an effect on age at menarche. Among women aged >57 years at the baseline, mean age at menopause increased by 1.4 years over a 21-year period (1930-1951) and was significantly associated with several reproductive and behavioural factors, notably gravidity (2 years later menopause) and smoking (6 months earlier menopause). Blood pressure and anthropometry were weakly inversely associated with age at menarche (0.2mmHg and 0.2kg/m² lower per year later menarche) and even more weakly positively associated with age at menopause (0.06mmHg and 0.04kg/m² higher per year later menopause). These trends and associations all varied to some extent by area and socioeconomic status. (All p-values <0.0001) Conclusion: This study adds new information on the secular trends and correlates of age at menarche and menopause in a large Chinese population born around the mid-20th century and provides a basis for further prospective work on the association of reproductive history with the incidence of CVD in China.

Age at the initiation of puberty and at menarche are key maturational indicators. They reflect health both within and between populations; in that a declining average age is associated with improving health, nutrition, and socio-economic conditions. Knowledge of the timing of pubertal development and menarche is important as earlier development within a population, in particular, has been linked with an increased risk of negative sequelae including overweight and obesity, development of risk factors for non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and insulin resistance, and engagement in risk behaviours such as early sexual debut and substance abuse. The main aims of this study were to investigate the timing of, and the early life factors (such as body composition and growth velocities) associated with pubertal development and age at menarche in Black and White urban South African adolescents. Mixed-longitudinal data (n = 401) from the Birth to Twenty (Bt20) birth-cohort study, initiated in 1990 and set in SowetoJohannesburg, South Africa were used. Median age at the initation of puberty and at menarche was derived by fitting logistic curves to cumulative frequency plots. Logistic regression models were constructed to examine the early life predictors of the timing of puberty and menarche. Data were also collected from adolescents and Bt20 staff (n = 72) using focus groups to explore views on the pubertal development questionnaire used in the Bt20 study. Median age at the initiation of genitalia development was 10.4 years (95% Cl = 8.4, 12.4) for Black boys and 9.8 years (95% Cl = 9.4, 10.2) for White boys. Median age for the initiation of pubic hair development for Black males was 10.8 years (95% Cl = 9.6, 12.0) compared to White males, which was 10.2 years (95% Cl = 8.4, 12.0). Median age at the initiation of breast development in Black females was 10.1 years (95% Cl = 9.3, 10.9) compared to White females which was 10.2 years (95% Cl = 8.2, 12.2). Median age for the initiation of pubic hair was 10.3 years (95% Cl = 9.3, 11.3) and 10.5 years (95% Cl = 8.7, 12.3) for Black and White girls, respectively. Results from logistic regression showed that a greater weight and height velocity in late childhood significantly increased the odds of achieving early breasU genitalia development. Furthermore, a low socio-economic status (SES) index at 9/10 years significantly reduced the odds of achieving early breasUgenitalia development. A greater weight, height, body mass index (BM I), and growth rate during infancy and childhood significantly increased the odds of achieving early pubic hair development. Median age at menarche for Black females was 12.4 years (95% Cl = 12.2, 12.6) and 12.5 . years (95% Cl = 11.7,13.3) for White females. Average menarcheal age for Black girls has declined by 0.56 years per decade and 0.32 years for White girls in South Africa, when comparing the current study findings with those from previous studies. Results from logistic regression showed that being taller, fatter and heavier in late childhood significantly increased the odds of achieving earlier menarche. The focus groups provided a range of opinions relating to the Bt20 pubertal development questionnaire and procedure. The majority of views were positive and included the ease of understanding and completion of the tool. Negative views revolved around the language used and privacy issues. These qualitative results provided a unique insight into the way in which pubertal development data are assessed and how these methods can potentially be improved to enhance the reliability and accuracy of pubertal development data collection. The results from this study provide the most recent estimates of age at the. initiation of puberty and age at menarche for urban Black and White South African adolescents. This is particularly important given the social, nutritional, and economic transition currently occurring in this country as these key maturity indicators reflect population health. This study has also added to our knowledge of the factors that are associated with pubertal development, showing that proximate rather than distal factors are the most sensitive indicators in this urban transitioning environment. In addition, the results from the focus groups provided a unique insight into how pubertal development data are assessed and how these methods could be improved. The negative health outcomes which have been associated with earlier pubertal development and age at menarche are major public health concerns, particularly in the South African context given the HIV/AIDS epidemic and rising levels of obesity. This study highlights the need for renewed research and resources for intervention strategies and policy programmes which target appropriate sex and obesity education in urban South African children.

Plusieurs études antérieures ont proposé que la ménarche pouvait représenter une vulnérabilité accrue au développement de la dépression en augmentant la réactivité au stress chez les filles ayant atteint leur cycle menstruel. Dans la présente étude, les symptômes dépressifs et les niveaux de cortisol salivaire ont été mesurés chez 198 garçons et 142 filles (11 - 13 ans), et ce, à quatre reprises au cours de leur première année de transition vers l’école secondaire, une période de stress chez les adolescents. Les résultats ont montré que les filles qui avaient atteint la ménarche au moment de la transition vers le secondaire avait des niveaux significativement plus élevés de symptômes dépressifs et de cortisol salivaire entre l’automne et le printemps, comparativement aux filles qui n'avaient pas encore atteint la ménarche. Ces dernières présentaient des niveaux plus élevés de symptômes dépressifs que les filles sans et les garçons. Les filles sans ménarche présentaient d’avantages des niveaux de symptômes dépressives plus élevés que les garçons. En utilisant l’âge de ménarche comme variable catégorique, les résultats démontrent que les filles ayant eu leur ménarche plus jeunes présentent des symptômes dépressifs plus élevés tout au long de l'année scolaire, alors que les filles qui ont commencé leur cycle menstruel à l’âge dit ‘normal’ présentent des symptômes dépressifs transitoires. Globalement, ces résultats suggèrent que la ménarche est un indice significatif d’une vulnérabilité accrue pour les symptômes dépressifs et les niveaux de cortisol plus élevés chez les adolescentes qui font leur entrée au secondaire. Également, ces résultats suggèrent qu’un âge précoce de ménarche peut exposer à long-terme le cerveau en développement à des niveaux élévés de cortisol, rendant ainsi ce groupe d’adolescentes plus vulnérables à la dépression. / It has been proposed that the onset and/or earlier age at menarche confer greater vulnerability to depressive symptoms by increasing the reactivity of menarcheal girls to stressors associated with adolescence. In the present study, we measured depressive symptoms and salivary cortisol levels in 198 boys and 142 girls (11 -13 years) tested four times during their first year of transition into high school, a period known to be associated with stress among adolescents. Results showed that girls who had reached menarche before the transition to high school transit presented significantly higher depressive symptoms and salivary cortisol levels across the school year, when compared to girls who had not reached menarche and boys. Girls who had reached menarche presented significantly higher depressive scores than girls who had not reached menarche and boys. Girls who did had not reached menarche also scored significantly higher on depressive symptoms when compared to boys. When we divided the menarcheal girls as a function of age of onset, we found that girls with early age at menarche presented consistently higher scores for depressive symptoms from the start of the school year to early spring. Girls with on-time menarche scored higher for symptoms of depression, but these were more transitory. Altogether, these results show that onset of menarche is associated with greater depressive symptoms and higher cortisol levels in adolescent girls going through the stress of high school transition. These findings also suggest that early menarche may confer greater vulnerability to depression due to long-term exposure of the developing brain to high cortisol levels.

Relationships between body dissatisfaction, dieting methods, father absence, and puberty timing were investigated in this study. Participants included adolescent females from Wave 1 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health. Logistic regression results indicated that girls without a biological father in the home were significantly more likely to have an early onset of puberty than on-time or late. Girls who experienced early puberty exhibited higher levels of body dissatisfaction, but didn't use more dieting methods. Early onset girls more likely used dieting methods if their biological father was present than absent; however, no significant difference in body dissatisfaction was shown. A negative relationship with fathers indicated more body dissatisfaction. None of the attained findings were found when the biological mother was absent, and having a stepfather did not seem to matter. Evidence was revealed that fathers play a role in their daughters' view of their own bodies.

PURPOSE: To examine whether there is an association between early menarche and factors including BMI and dietary intake of calcium, phosphorus, total fat, fiber, and fatty acids, using data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III).METHODS: Secondary analysis of NHANES III (2001-2002) interview and examination data on a total of 640 subjects, aged between 12 and 16 years, who had not used hormonal contraception prior to menarche. Early menarche was defined as the first period occurring prior to age 12. Nutritional information was taken from the individual foods files on the interview sections of the NHANES III data.RESULTS. We found negative associations between early menarche and daily tetradecanoic acid intake (p-value = .0263), White (non-Hispanic) race/ethnicity (p-value = .0025), and subject age of 12 (p-value = .0058) and 13 (p-value = .0025). Higher BMI acted as a significant effect modifier favoring early menarche among non-Hispanic Black participants. No association was found between early menarche and intake of calcium, phosphorus, total fat, free fatty acids other than tetradecanoic, or fiber.CONCLUSIONS. Dietary intake of one saturated fatty acid, tetradecanoic (myristic), was found to predict early menarche, as were age and race/ethnicity. Further investigation is warranted into dietary intake of myristic acid and its relationship to reproductive development. Higher BMI's effect of strengthening the association between Black, non-Hispanic race and early menarche supports the need for targeting public health education on nutrition and exercise on this minority group.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T14:42:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sara Scheidt Soriano.pdf: 7327377 bytes, checksum: a53c0b16c57e663255af6e2ca5db8f92 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-19 / The aim of this research is to relate the themes adolescence and social participation based on the history and experiences narrated by the members of the Menarche Project and Promotion of Girls´ Health in the city of Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brazil from 2002 to 2007. Considering memory data, the narratives were produced according to a methodological procedure used in oral history. The testimonies allowed the construction of the Menarche Project history, its changes, development, methodology and social scope. The research report is divided into two chapters: the first one presents a literature review about health promotion, highlighting the changes in the assistance of adolescents´ health and the sociopolitical context that stimulated specific public policies to this age group. The second chapter presents seven testimonies articulated to the National Curricular Guidelines, Health Project and Promotion in Schools, and Health Promotion Policies. The education methodology between pairs is also articulated with the testimonies, presented as an intervention process and form of socialization common in adolescence. / Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo construir um diálogo entre os temas adolescência e participação social, a partir de histórias e experiências narradas por integrantes do Projeto Menarca de Promoção à Saúde da Menina, na cidade de Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brasil, ocorridas entre os anos de 2002 e 2007. Considerando dados de memória, as narrativas foram produzidas com a utilização do procedimento metodológico da história oral. Os depoimentos possibilitaram a construção da historicidade do Projeto Menarca, passando por suas modificações e apresentando seu desenvolvimento, metodologia e alcance social. O texto está estruturado em dois capítulos: o primeiro traz uma revisão bibliográfica a respeito da promoção da saúde, colocando em evidência as mudanças na atenção à saúde da adolescente e o contexto sociopolítico, que mobilizaram a implantação de políticas públicas específicas para esta faixa etária. O segundo capítulo traz sete depoimentos articulados às propostas dos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais, Projeto Saúde e Promoção nas Escolas, e Políticas de Promoção da Saúde. A metodologia de educação entre pares também está articulada aos depoimentos, sendo apresentada como processo interventivo e meio de socialização característicos da adolescência.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-19T18:16:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTACAO ANA CLEIDE.pdf: 1666935 bytes, checksum: c302ab2891d3628382fdb85b4ba0bc6b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-12 / A woman runs during successive steps biological life that reflect your "genital evolution&#8214;. These periods are marked by wide variations distinct with menarche, understood as the mark of adolescent maturation, and menopause which corresponds to the end of their reproductive capacity. The objective of this study was to relate in perimenopausal women with menopausal age the determining factors for its occurrence. This is a transversal study, obtained from a population-based survey. This is a transversal study, obtained from a population-based survey. Were selected through cluster sampling, 1209 women living in São Luis - MA, aged 45 years and older, from April to July 2008. The questionnaire was the instrument used in household interviews. For data analysis, we used Stata statistical package, version 10.0 and to assess the homogeneity between the groups we used the Pearson chi-square test. It was observed that prevailed women aged 50 to 59 years (53.9%), brown in color (46.9%), schooling 9-12 years of education (56.7%), with partner (55.9%), unemployed (46%) and belonging to economy class C (51.1%). The mean age for menarche was 13.4 years, for natural menopause was 46.9 years and the duration of reproductive age was 33.6 years. The duration of reproductive age, regardless of age at menarche had no statistically significant difference between women. / A mulher percorre durante a vida sucessivas etapas biológicas que espelham a sua "evolução genital". Esses períodos são marcados por grandes variações bem distintas. A menarca, compreendida como o marco maturacional da adolescente e a menopausa, que corresponde ao término de sua capacidade reprodutiva. O objetivo deste trabalho foi relacionar em mulheres climatéricas a idade da menopausa com os fatores determinantes para sua ocorrência. Trata-se de um estudo transversal, obtido a partir de uma pesquisa de base populacional. Foram selecionadas, através de amostragem por conglomerados, 1209 mulheres residentes em São Luis - MA, com idade de 45 anos e mais no período de abril a julho de 2008. O questionário foi o instrumento utilizado nas entrevistas domiciliares. Para análise dos dados, foi utilizado pacote estatístico Stata, versão 10.0 e para avaliar a homogeneidade entre os grupos foi utilizado o teste qui-quadrado de Pearson. Observou-se que prevaleceram as mulheres na faixa etária de 50 a 59 anos (53,9%), na cor parda (46,9%), com escolaridade de 9 a 12 anos de estudo (56,7%), com companheiro (55,9%), sem trabalho (46%) e pertencentes à classe econômica C (51,1%). A média etária encontrada para menarca foi 13,4 anos, para menopausa natural foi de 46,9 anos e para o tempo de menacme foi de 33,6 anos. A duração da menacme, independente da idade da menarca não teve diferença estatisticamente significativa entre as mulheres.