Read the article by Buzney, CD, & DeCaro, JA (2012):
Explanatory Models of Female Pubertal Timing: Discordances Between Cultural Models of Maturation and the Recollection and Interpretation of Personal Developmental Experiences
which can be found on Bb in the Readings folder that is in the Ch2 Puberty folder. Don’t be scared away by the results and statistics; just focus on the Introduction, Procedures, and Discussion sections. Also, if you concentrate on the Introduction, Methods, and Discussion sections, the article is not that long.
a. What are the hypotheses? Describe the research methodology used. Provide details about the method of collecting data, the variables, and the participants. Define the variables and why they were used. Explain why a developmental design is used and how it addresses the hypotheses. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using this type of design.
b. Discuss the cultural components of socialization. Then compare and contrast broad and narrow socialization. Did the article find there to be a cultural complex? If so, what was it. If not, why not? How do the findings relate to collectivistic and individualistic cultures?
ORI GIN AL PA PER Explanatory Models of Female Pubertal Timing: Discordances Between Cultural Models of Maturation and the Recollection and Interpretation of Personal Developmental Experiences Catherine D. Buzney • Jason A. DeCaro Published online: 9 October 2012 � Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012 Abstract Given the ambiguity surrounding the source of the continuing trend toward earlier menarche observed in Westernized nations, several competing explanatory models have emerged regarding variation in pubertal timing. While a biomedical model proposes that predominantly constitutional characteristics shape the maturation timetable, an alternative framework derived from Life History Theory (LHT) evolutionary principles emphasizes the influence of psychosocial factors on development. Working with a sample of women 19–25 years of age (N = 103) drawn from two Southeastern U.S. colleges, we combined cultural consensus analysis with retrospective self-report regarding childhood stress and menarcheal timing to investigate whether reported developmental experiences align with cultural models regarding factors that should drive pubertal timing. Results suggest a robust cultural model consistent with a biomedical framework concen- trating principally on constitutional characteristics. However, participants’ personal developmental recollections support an association between higher childhood stress and earlier menarche. These findings support LHT predictions that early repro- ductive maturation is an evolutionary adaptive response to chronic childhood stress as well as clarify the extent to which cultural models of factors contributing to puberty concord with developmental experiences. Keywords Adolescent development � Stress � Menarche � Cultural models � Life History Theory C. D. Buzney (&) � J. A. DeCaro Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama, P.O. Box 870210, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 0210, USA e-mail:
[email protected] J. A. DeCaro e-mail:
[email protected] 123 Cult Med Psychiatry (2012) 36:601-620 DOI 10.1007/s11013-012-9277-8 Introduction/Background The influence of environmental conditions on pubertal timing is a question of considerable importance in recent anthropological and biologic child development research. The continued advancement of pubertal age documented in Western nations over the past 40 years is both culturally and biologically meaningful; yet, obvious explanations, including changes in public health and nutritional conditions, have abated. With this trend, biologic maturation has come to precede psychosocial maturation for the first time in human evolutionary history, especially among women (Gluckman and Hanson 2006; Hillard 2008; Mishra et al. 2009; Parent et al. 2003; Walvoord 2010). Yet, even against this backdrop of earlier puberty, there remains considerable inter-individual variability within developed countries in menarcheal age. Two principal biologic models have been proposed to resolve this discrepancy. One model, largely driven by biomedicine, assumes that residual variance in developmental timing not associated with diagnosable pathologies is principally influenced by constitutional characteristics, such as weight, body composition, and genetics (Annandale 2002). An alternative explanatory model, drawing from Life History Theory (LHT) and evolutionary psychology, proposes that psychosocial and physical stresses may combine to shape age at menarche (Ellis 2004; Worthman 1999). Yet, neither biomedicine nor evolutionary psychology has systematically examined individual differences in experience in relation to cultural models regarding pubertal timing. That is, to what extent are young women, as they recount their peri-adolescent experiences, conforming to a shared cultural narrative regarding what ‘‘should’’ predict the timing of puberty? Life History Theory interprets life cycles as reproductive strategies shaped by trade-offs between current and future reproduction, growth, and maintenance. Early reproductive development—hence, earlier potential reproduction—is viewed as an adaptive strategy to maximize reproductive success in an unpredictable environment with limited resources (Ellis 2004). Thus, despite somatic and psychologic costs associated with advanced menarche, including elevated reproductive cancer risk as well as higher rates of depression, earlier sexual experience, and delinquent behavior such as substance abuse, LHT proposes that early maturation is prioritized over good health. This enhances fitness amidst poor conditions that are unlikely to improve (Ellis 2004; Surbey 1990; Trickett and Putnam 1993). To the extent that early psychosocial stress—especially limited parental support— signals a risky, unpredictable, and resource-poor environment, LHT would predict earlier reproductive development to result. There is growing evidence that women who experience isolated events of acute stress and/or persistent, chronic stress during childhood (with the exception of poor nutrition) undergo earlier physical and behavioral sexual development compared to their less stressed peers (Chisholm et al. 2005; Ellis 2004; Worthman 1999). Recent longitudinal studies demonstrate that ‘‘family adversity,’’ such as paternal absence or low socioeconomic status, predicts younger age at menarche (Ellis et al. 2003; Ellis and Garber 2000; Mishra et al. 2009; Tither and Ellis 2008; Tremblay and Frigon 2005). Yet, it is still not well understood how an aggregate of childhood experiences involving both short-term and prolonged nutritional, familial, and social stress may influence the maturation timetable. 602 Cult Med Psychiatry (2012) 36:601–620 123 There is already widespread public discourse surrounding ‘‘stress’’ and its perceived deleterious effects on health and child development (DeCaro and Worthman 2007), and public health authorities have been expressing concern over early menarche for some time (e.g., Stice et al. 2001; Vihko and Apter 1984). Hence, despite the relative public obscurity of LHT per se, cultural models regarding pubertal development may incorporate the possibility that stress will cause puberty to happen ‘‘too soon’’ as an alternative model or in addition to the conventional biomedical framework. This possibility was amplified by a pilot study recently completed by the authors with 10 female college students, in which young women anecdotally recounted personal stressful experiences as triggers for menarche. These findings indicated the need to expand research in the domain of pubertal timing to directly investigate cultural models regarding determinants of age of menarche in conjunction with recalled developmental experiences. Cultural models are highly schematized, widely shared representations of some cultural domain, including the constituent elements of that domain and its structure (D’Andrade and Strauss 1992; Dressler et al. 2005). Cultural consensus analysis has proven an effective way to describe cultural models and link shared beliefs to differential health outcomes (Dressler et al. 2005; Reyes-Garcia et al. 2010; Weller 2007). For instance, the degree to which an individual’s behavior and actions approximate cultural models within domains related to lifestyle and social support predict adult blood pressure, presumably mediated by psychosocial stress (Dressler et al. 2005). In this manner, cognitive anthropology broadens our understanding of behavior and health. Comparing cultural models regarding determinants of developmental timing to what participants report of their own experiences may provide insight into the interpretation of developmental events, including the significance assigned to their sequence and timing. This is especially important given the sobering consequences that accompany advanced menarche relative to societal norms. Applying a retrospective, mixed-methods approach within a Southeastern U.S. college-based sample of young women, the present study involves (1) the creation of a stress score to investigate whether an aggregate of personal childhood events correlates with the timing of somatic maturation (age of menarche), (2) cultural consensus analysis to explore shared cultural knowledge regarding factors that contribute to pubertal timing, and (3) determination of the extent to which beliefs encapsulated within the cultural model as well as participants’ personal develop- mental experiences are consistent with a biomedical framework concentrating principally on constitutional characteristics and/or LHT predictions emphasizing environmental factors. We employed interviews with college-aged women to determine the relationship between pubertal onset and retrospectively reported childhood experiences, including subjective memories of acute and chronic nutritional, familial, and social stress. Based on our pilot research, we predicted a shared cultural model in which isolated stressful incidents lead to earlier pubertal development and, regardless of its accuracy, that this model also guides the association between earlier menarche and greater stress in participants’ develop- mental narratives. Cult Med Psychiatry (2012) 36:601–620 603 123 Methods Overview This mixed-methods project was conducted at the University of Alabama (UA) and Shelton State Community College (Shelton) campuses in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA, from June, 2010, through January, 2011. Prior to structured interviewing (UA) or questionnaire distribution (Shelton), exploratory research on a small sample (N = 32) was carried out involving open-ended questions and free-listing tasks intended to elicit broad views on stress and puberty. These prompts were neutral regarding the possibility that stressful events are related to pubertal timing. In a second, larger sample (N = 70), female UA and Shelton students 19–25 years of age were interviewed and/or completed questionnaires to test whether women with higher overall recalled childhood stress experiences also reported menarche occurring earlier than their less stressed counterparts. Also, in this second sample, cultural consensus modeling was applied to determine whether a cultural model exists regarding factors that contribute toward pubertal timing and the extent to which this explanatory model aligns with recalled developmental experiences. Sampling Sampling was carried out in a student life and dining center on the University of Alabama campus and in wellness classes at Shelton State Community College. In total, 102 female students, 19–25 years of age, participated in one-time in-person interviews (UA) or completed questionnaires (Shelton). At UA, the investigator approached every third female student who walked through the student life center on a weekday morning. Interviews were performed in a secluded and private area immediately following recruitment, rather than scheduling separate meeting times, to reduce the time burden on participants and insure absolute anonymity. At Shelton, students taking wellness classes filled out the questionnaires immediately following consent, and the investigator remained present to answer questions. The first 10 participants recruited at UA and the first 22 recruited at Shelton participated in Interview/Questionnaire I; the remaining 70 (35 at UA, 35 at Shelton) participated in Interview/Questionnaire II. This research was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of UA and Shelton State Community College. Interview/Questionnaire I: Free-Lists and Open-Ended Questions During Interview/Questionnaire I, 10 UA participants and 22 Shelton participants were presented with free-list tasks to assist in creating a cultural consensus questionnaire regarding determinants of developmental timing (Bernard 2005). Participants were asked to free-list what specific factors, events, and circumstances may cause menarche to occur at an earlier or later age than average. Terms were entered into AnthroPac software for analysis. The frequency with which each term was listed and its average rank order were calculated. Fifteen moderately to highly salient items, out of 38 total free-listed causes of puberty, were then selected for 604 Cult Med Psychiatry (2012) 36:601–620 123 conversion into agree/disagree statements for use in cultural consensus analysis during Interview/Questionnaire II (Romney and Weller 1986). Open-ended questions regarding determinants of menarcheal timing were also asked. Partici- pants’ responses helped establish which free-list items should be retained for conversion into consensus items as well as how those items should be phrased within the questionnaire. Interview/Questionnaire IIa: Childhood Stress Scale During the first part of Interview/Questionnaire II, a new sample equally divided between UA and Shelton students responded to questions regarding seven subjectively reported dimensions of childhood experience: Nutrition, Deviance, Family/Parents, Sexuality/Sociality, Distress, Relocation, and Autonomy. Many of these items are derived from a multidimensional Life Events Questionnaire used to assess stress in adolescents (Newcomb et al. 1981) and were refined based on pilot testing in a small, multi-gender group of students in a collaborative