Coming of Age Too Soon: Journalistic Practice in U.S. Newspaper Coverage of “Early Puberty” in Girls

Abstract

Following from a 1997 study documenting that U.S. girls were developing secondary sex characteristics (i.e., breasts and pubic hair) earlier than in previous generations, this qualitative and quantitative content analysis of U.S. newspaper coverage of early puberty in girls concludes that newspapers have framed the phenomenon as one in which girls' bodies have transgressed culturally prescribed dictates of childhood innocence. Although not necessarily evidence of a specific and unique moral panic, such coverage is (a) part and parcel of a larger and ongoing moral panic about youth growing up too fast and (b) further evidence of the kinds of journalistic practice employed when covering medical stories, in general, and “sexual health” stories, in particular.

Keywords:

• Childhood Innocence
• Framing
• Girls
• Moral Panic
• Newspaper Coverage
• Puberty

An earlier version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association in 2008.

Notes

Note: N = 52.

Note: N = 55.

Note: N = 58.

Technically, according to American Psychological Association format, this study with its seven authors should be cited as Herman-Giddens et al. (1997), but for brevity and to correspond with newspaper reporting, I refer to it throughout this article as either Herman-Giddens or the Herman-Giddens's study.

Until Herman-Giddens et al. (1997), Marshall and Tanner (1969) was the study most often attributed with defining the age of “normal” onset of puberty in girls, despite the fact that it was based on data from only 192 White girls in Britain—primarily girls from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Although the authors themselves noted that the girls in their study were “‘not representative of the British population’” of girls (as cited in Kaplowitz et al., 1999, p. 937), “their statement that ‘the first sign of puberty appeared between the ages of 8.5 years and 13 years in 95% of girls' appears to have been widely accepted as a standard for the normal onset of puberty in girls” (p. 937).

A search of Amazon.com using the phrase “growing up too fast” yields dozens of books, both scholarly and popular. Led by Elkind's (1998) All Grown Up and No Place to Go: Teenagers in Crisis and The Hurried Child: Growing Up Too Fast Too Soon (Elkind, 2006), the proliferation of such tomes evidences the ubiquity of this topic within the cultural landscape of the United States.

Recent examples include the international media-fueled outcry about teen pregnancy during the summer of 2008 after Time magazine (Kingsbury, 2008) broke the story (since discounted) that a large group of female students at Gloucester (Massachusetts) High School purposely got pregnant as part of a “pact.” Even more recently, Time published an article promising to reveal “The Truth About Teen Girls”—an article addressing public concerns about girls acting and looking too sexual too soon (Luscombe, 2008, p. 68). Moreover, one of the biggest issues raised in news coverage of the 2008 U.S. presidential election was the fact that the 17-year-old daughter of Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, was, at the time, herself an unwed, pregnant teen.

For example, according to the Newspaper Association of America (NAA; 2004c), only 40% of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 read a daily newspaper, whereas 71% of adults aged 65 or older do. They did not report statistics for young people under age 18. Moreover, according to the NAA (2007), only about 220 U.S. newspapers “have special teen pages or sections, many of which are written by teens under the guidance of a newspaper editor”. Considering that there are 1,456 daily and 6,704 weekly U.S. newspapers (NAA, 2004a, 2004b), it is a “drop in the bucket.” Clearly, young people are not the target audience for major U.S. newspapers such as those included in this study.

Articles excluded as “irrelevant” ranged from those that had absolutely nothing to do with early puberty, such as one sarcastic article accusing then-president Bill Clinton of acting like he was in “early puberty,” to articles that focused on other topics with only a brief mention of early puberty—for example, articles almost all about cancer, chemicals in baby bottles, and obesity, which may have a single phrase making a link between those issues and early puberty.

It is interesting to note that early puberty was rarely mentioned as a problem for boys. Although there has been some evidence of puberty occurring earlier in boys, neither the culture, at large, nor the media, in particular, frame boys' early puberty as problematic. In fact, it is quite the opposite. For example, an article in the Albany Times Union titled, “Boys Welcome Early Puberty” (1995) reported that early puberty is perceived by boys as a good thing “because it makes them taller, stronger, more sexually developed and more athletic than their peers at age 12 or 13.” Similarly, an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer detailing a litany of risks faced by girls experiencing early puberty also reported on two studies that “showed that early puberty gives boys—but not girls—a social advantage” (“Health Beat,” 1997). Clearly, this framing parallels the manner in which our culture values a certain kind of masculinity.

Public Agenda (2007) described itself as a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that provides “unbiased and unparalleled research that bridges the gap between American leaders and what the public really thinks about issues ranging from education to foreign policy to immigration to religion and civility in American life.” It was founded in 1975 by “social scientist and author,” Daniel Yankelovich, and former Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance (Public Agenda, 2007).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sharon R. Mazzarella

Sharon R. Mazzarella (Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1993) is professor and director of the School of Communication Studies at James Madison University.