A Short-Term Longitudinal Study of Pubertal Change, Gender, and Psychological Well-Being of Mexican Early Adolescents.

Studied the role of pubertal development on depression, externalizing behavior problems, self-esteem, and body-image of 951 Mexican early adolescents. Findings show that the acute experience of menarche adversely affected the psychological well-being of girls, specifically in terms of depressive symptomatology. Pubertal change in boys did not appear to affect psychological well-being adversely. (SLD)