The findings suggest that early puberty is associated with adjustment difficulties in several areas, but when pubertal timing is considered in conjunction with psychological and social factors, a more differentiated picture emerge. Biological (puberty), psychological (self-perceptions), and environmental (heterosexual relationships) factors are examined simultaneously. In this chapter, the role of pubertal timing in adolescent and adult adjustment is studied in a broader developmental context using a cohort of children from a middle-size urban Swedish community who have been followed across 33 years within the Individual Development and Adaptation program.

Despite being vast, the literature has important limitations, including a lack of comprehensive models placing girls in their contexts and a considerable lack of long-term follow-ups. According to a substantial literature, puberty appears to be troublesome mostly for girls who mature early. In fact, pubertal development is linked with adjustment in many areas of life, with pubertal timing-when in relation to same-sex, same-age peers a girl experiences puberty-being associated with adjustment difficulties in particular. Puberty is often viewed as one of girls’ troubles. It is the process through which girls become capable of sexual reproduction and during which major physical changes occur. Puberty is a milestone in female development.

Rubii and quiri