Puberty linked to violent behaviour

Puberty is associated with a substantial increase in violent and socially aggressive behavior, suggests a new study.

Puberty is a time of transition for young people, both biologically and socially. To study the associations between pubertal stage and violent adolescent behaviour and social aggression, researchers from US and Australia examined survey data from almost 5,679 fifth, seventh and ninth grade school-going children aged between 10 and 15 years. Roughly 1,000 students from each grade level in each location were surveyed between 2002 and 2004.

Violent behaviour was measured by looking at the students' answers to two questions: how often during the past year had the student attacked someone with the idea of seriously hurting the person, or beaten someone so badly that medical treatment was required. The survey also assessed so-called "social/relational aggression" by asking students how often over the past year they had gotten back at another student by not letting the person be in their group of friends, or told lies or started rumors about someone to make other friends not like them.

It was found that that the chances of a child acting out violently are roughly three times higher when the child is in the middle and end of this volatile life stage, compared with just entering it. Having antisocial friends and a dysfunctional home life seemed to increase the chances of these problems occurring, but that even after adjusting for these factors, the association between puberty and behavioral problems remained.

The researchers recommended that parents pay closer attention to their kids' friendships as earlier research has indicated that teens are less prone to violence when parents monitor their peer interactions and activities. It's important that parents maintain open communication with their children and provide opportunities for them to engage in positive activities to prevent violence and aggression.