How old are you and when did you start puberty ?

[Progressivism]

I'm 14 and I started at around late-10/early-eleven years old.I'm asking this question because I recall watching a 1950's Puberty Education film that stated that you start it sooner or later at around 14(you can find it here: http://www.archive.org/details/AsBoysGr1957).I interpret this as meaning that the average age of starting puberty in the 1950s was 14,which I find amazing as I am that age and am well into puberty.From what I can gather,the average age today is around 12,so I'm wondering when my fellow DUers (from each of the generations) did start it.

[Odin2005]

1. I was 11.

[Progressivism]

30. I should also have asked if my fellow DUers are male or female.

The data I spoke of in my first post is a reference to males.I also am a male.

[woo me with science]

2. A quick google gives these numbers for France:

[EFerrari]

4. Does access to a better diet bring the number down? Interesting.

[EFerrari]

3. I was 10 & in the mid 60s. I recently read an article about food that

tends to produce an early onset but can't for the life of me remember what it was. Not chocolate, that part I remember. :)

[Withywindle]

5. I was 11.

By the end of 7th grade I had the same bra size I wear to this very day (34C), and I'm 40!


Edit: I was pretty totally squarely average among my classmates too. Some were earlier, some later. Of course, almost every girl that age panics because she thinks she's NEVER gonna get it, she's gonna look like a little girl FOREVER! :cry:

[Tobin S.]

6. I'm a male and I started at 13 in 1986

I was slow to develop, though, and even after I started puberty it would be a couple of more years before I really started growing up, physically speaking. Most guys my age back then started to look like men when they were 13.

[ohheckyeah]

7. Let's just say I'm significantly older than

you and I had my first period at 13. I didn't really develop a chest until 16 during the summer between my sophomore and junior years in high school at which time I made up for lost time.

[Ghost in the Machine]

8. I was born with a full beard and moustache....

... tickled my mom to death!


Welcome to DU!

:hi:


Peace,

Ghost

[SpiralHawk]

9. Hormones in food are a big part of the early onset of puberty

As the food chain has become corrupted with additives of all kinds, including so-called growth hormones for animals, all kinds of strange shit has been going on for us human beings.

With GMOS and irradiation coming on strong, in an occult manner (unlabeled), we will all be mutants...

[TZ]

13. Hmm

Then how do you explain my PRE-boomer mother going through puberty younger than any of her children? Its WAAAAY more complicated than that. (12 for her, 14, 13, 13 for us)

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

10. I'm not telling you how old I am whippersnapper

But I started developing breasts in the 4th grade. Made life hell for me as I was already the tallest girl in the class and now I had these two targets on my chest. I didn't start having periods until I was 12 though.

[Maine-ah]

11. 35 now, and I started about age 10

my cycle started at age 12.

an interesting topic for sure, considering some of the things I have read about kids starting earlier than they used to. Some blame it on hormones in the food we eat or the chemicals in plastics etc...

[nickinSTL]

12. I started at 12

I'm now 36.

Around 12 seemed pretty much average, I think, back in the mid-80s.

[tigereye]

14. actually a lot of kids now start puberty (early signs) at 8-9

My child stunned me by showing early signs of it at about 9-10, similar to what you are describing.


For me, in the 60s, it was about age 12. I assume the earlier start for it has to do with genetic factors (the age of onset of puberty for parents tends to be repeated with offspring, I believe) health, nutrition, and possibly beef and milk hormones! :D

[Odin2005]

15. I noticed that my 10yo niece has started developing breasts.

And I noticed that she has started wearing a training bra when I gave her a pat on the back. It kind of freaked me out!

[tigereye]

25. i've tended to wonder how such early puberty actually has any bio. benefit to

humans. It's difficult enough for pre-teens and teens at times to adjust to developmental changes...


I remember reading a while back about a 7 year old girl in Brazil, or elsewhere in South America with an onset of puberty at age 7!

:wow:

[Orsino]

16. I suspect that in the fifties...

...American prudishness led us to deny the onset of puberty in children until it became unmistakable. While it probably began years earlier, by the age of fourteen the growth spurt and male vocal changes made it easy to identify adolescents.

[JohnnyLib2]

17. That goes along with my memory.

Although we knew from the mandatory showers in middle school, 6th grade on.

[Deep13]

18. 42 and I don't remember. nt

[Pool Hall Ace]

19. I'm 47 now, started wearing a bra at 10

and started flying the red flag at 11. Fortunately, that activity is starting to slow down (although the rest of me is, too).

I remember, years after the fact, my mother mentioned to me that she was a bit horrified when I told her that I had started my period. She said, "You were too young. TOO YOUNG!"

Sorry mom! :D

[distantearlywarning]

20. I'm 35, female.

Got my first period the week I turned 14.

[tabbycat31]

21. 29 now, puberty at 14.5

[insanity]

22. 23 now

I think I started 'changing' around 11. I do not miss those years.

[Iggo]

23. Ew.

[tonekat]

24. Thanks to Hormone Replacement Therapy

I got to have a second puberty at age 51. This one is a lot better than the first time around, which absolutely sucked.

[Phoonzang]

26. 29 now....and I honestly don't remember when I started puberty. nt

[Beer Snob-50]

27. I AM 4 TIMES YOUR AGE LESS 6.

i started puberty around the age of 11 or 12.

[sarge43]

28. 66, the flag went up at age 13, fairly average back then.

Read somewhere that body fat ratio is the trigger and the controlling factor. Because children are physically maturing sooner, plus the high corn syrup content in far too many diets, puberty is occurring earlier.

As memory serves, if the ratio falls below 20% fat, menstruation will become erratic or even stop.

FWIW

[Bertha Venation]

29. 46 - 9

nine when I got my first period

[pink-o]

31. I hit it about a week before my 13th birthday

and consequently, finally became post-menopausal last year, at age 53. I thought it was a little too long for a woman to be menstural, but the doc told me it's pretty average. I think you're probably okay too. Everyone is different, and as long as you're healthy and feel reasonably happy (take my word: no one at 14 is ever happy for too long. But it does get better, my young friend!) then you probably have nothing to worry about.

I just met a young man aged 13 who had facial hair and a deep, pubescent voice. His only concern was that people immediately think he's older and treat him accordingly. Just so long as those around you remember you're still 14 and don't put unrealistic expectations on you because you seem more mature.