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Early puberty paradox: an investigation of anxiety levels of mothers and children, children’s quality of life, and psychiatric diagnoses

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Abstract

Early puberty signs lead to an increase in anxiety levels of parents and children. The aim of this study was to investigate the quality of life and anxiety levels of girls and their mothers who were admitted to a pediatric endocrinology clinic with concerns about early puberty. Girls and their mothers who were admitted to endocrinology outpatient clinic with concerns about early puberty were compared to healthy control group. Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) parent form, Quality of Life for Children Scale (PedsQL) parent form, and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were administered to the mothers. Children were evaluated with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (Kiddie-SADS Lifetime Version) (K-SADS-PL). The study sample consisted of 92 girls and 62 of them were administered to clinic with concerns about early puberty. There were 30 girls in early puberty group (group 1), 32 girls were in the normal development group (group 2), and 30 were in the healthy control group (group 3). The anxiety level of group 1 and group 2 was significantly higher, and their quality of life was significantly lower when compared to group 3 (p < 0.001). Mother’s anxiety level was found significantly higher in group 2 (p < 0.001). It has shown that anxiety level and quality of life of children were associated with anxiety level of mothers and the current Tanner stage (r = 0.302, p < 0.005).

    Conclusion: Mothers and children who have concerns about early puberty are negatively affected when early puberty is a possibility. For this reason, educating parents will prevent negative impacts of this situation on children. At the same time, it will decrease health burden.

What is Known?

• Early adolescence is one of the most common reasons for admission to pediatric endocrinology outpatient clinics. It is known that increasing early adolescence anxiety in the society causes cost and time losses in the field of health. However, studies investigating the reasons for this result are limited in the literature.

What’s New?

• The level of anxiety increased significantly in girls with suspected precocious puberty and their mothers, and their quality of life was affected.

• For this reason, we would like to emphasize the importance of multidisciplinary approaches before psychiatric disorders occur in children with suspected precocious puberty and their parents.

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Abbreviations

BAI:

Beck Anxiety Inventory

K-SADS-PL:

Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (Kiddie-SADS Lifetime Version)

PHTS:

Physical health total score

PSTS:

Psychosocial health total score

PedsQL:

Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory

SCARED:

Screen for Child Anxiety and Related Disorders

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey

    Burcu Kardaş & Ömer Kardaş

  2. Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Balıkesir Atatürk City Hospital, Balıkesir, Turkey

    Meliha Demiral

  3. Department of Pediatric Endokrinology, Mardin Artuklu University School of Medicine, Mardin, Turkey

    Mehmet Nuri Özbek

Authors
  1. Burcu Kardaş
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  2. Ömer Kardaş
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  4. Mehmet Nuri Özbek
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Contributions

BK, ÖK, and MD designed and conducted this study. ÖK and MD undertook the statistical analyses. BK wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors have participated to drafting the manuscript; authors BK and MNÖ revised it critically. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Burcu Kardaş.

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Ethics approval

The study was conducted after approval from the University of Health Sciences Diyarbakır Gazi Yaşargil Training and Research Hospital Ethics Committee approval, dated 02.03.2018/36.The study was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declarations.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Communicated by Peter de Winter

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Kardaş, B., Kardaş, Ö., Demiral, M. et al. Early puberty paradox: an investigation of anxiety levels of mothers and children, children’s quality of life, and psychiatric diagnoses. Eur J Pediatr 182, 3775–3783 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-023-05057-2

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