A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF EARLY MENARCHE TO EGO DEVELOPMENT

Like other problems of behavior, adolescence is difficult to study in any rigorous manner because of the difficulty in controlling the variables. Comparative cultural studies have helped to delineate some of the learned aspects of adolescent behavior. Presumably, biological variables are equally important, but they have not been easy to define and study. This paper represents an attempt to study a biological variable occurring out of its normal social context. It is hoped that the present study will lead to some conclusions about the effect of sex hormonal function on ego development. In reviewing the literature, the authors were surprised to find the confusion and were convinced that those who had not found evidence of sexual maturation simply had not looked deeply enough. This study of two girls with precocious puberty, by treatment techniques, confirms the hypothesis of Hampson and Money that psychosexual maturation is not an instinctive or automatic concomitant of biological maturation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)