The Relationship between Precocious Puberty and Psychosocial functioning: A Case of Pre Adolescent girls in selected Primary Schools in Kiambu County

Abstract

Pubertal maturation is a dynamic biopsychosocial-emotional process that presents a myriad of challenges to most girls, even when it occurs at normal timelines. The purpose of this study was to establish the prevalence of precocious puberty, and then determine its relationship with the psychosocial functioning of preadolescent girls in primary schools in Kiambu County. The study applied the descriptive correlational and comparative research designs and was guided by the psychosocial theory of development. A total of 442, 11 and 12 year old girls, and 12 female class teachers from 13 schools participated in the study. Primary data was collected using questionnaires, focus group discussions and structured interviews. The instruments were pilot-tested on 36, 11 and 12 year old girls and 3 class teachers from 3 schools within Kiambu County, who were omitted from the actual study. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 25) was used to generate frequency distributions, regression models and Chi square tests for the quantitative data and the results were presented using tables. The qualitative data was transcribed and analysed using the thematic analysis approach. Key themes were identified, described and analysed using Nvivo version 12. The results were presented using thematic descriptions based on the predefined framework from the study objectives. This study found that 178 (40.4%) girls had precocious puberty, indicating that the prevalence was relatively high. Further, this study found that precocious puberty significantly affected the psychosocial functioning, and that diet influenced both the onset of precocious puberty and the psychosocial functioning of the preadolescent girls in schools in Kiambu County. It is hoped that these findings will enable parents, teachers and policy makers to put in place measures such as diet control psychoeducation, and provision of menstrual hygiene materials in order to better care for the early maturing girls.