The Influence Of Timing Of Puberty On Boys And Girls’Self-esteem, Self-concept And Peer Relationship

The purpose of the research was to investigate the status of the adolescent boys and girls’self-conception, self-esteem and peer relation, to discuss the influence of timing of puberty on boys and girls’ self-esteem, self-concept and peer relationship, and to make suggestions as to how to educate the adolescent boys and girls.According to cluster sampling principle,962six to nine grade adolescent students from The2nd Elementary School of Qing Shuitang, Zhounan Middle School, Chating Primary School and Meiyuan Middle School in Hunan Province were investigated with Pubertal Development Scale (PDS), Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS), The Self-Esteem Scale (SES) and Peer Relationship Scale, then8adolescent students were interviewed as auxiliary evidence.Result:(1)Most students aged between12-14years are in Early pubertal, Midpubertal and Late pubertal; Few students are in Prepubertal and Postpubertal.(2)The partial correlation analysis controlled with age suggested that boys’total pubertal developmental scores had significant negative correlation with family self-concept, but had significant positive correlation with peer acceptance, social preference and social impact. girls’total pubertal developmental scores had significant negative correlation with physical self, moral self, self identity and the total scores of self-concept, but had significant positive correlation with self criticism.(3)The results of the double factors variance analysis showed that:For boys, the scores of physical self, moral self, self action and peer acceptance of the early-maturing boys were significantly higher than that of the late-maturing boys, but the scores of family self were significantly lower than that of the late-maturing boys. For girls, the scores of self action and social impact of the early-maturing girls were significantly higher than that of the late-maturing girls, but the scores of self identity, peer acceptance, social preference were significantly lower than that of the late-maturing girls.The research shows that timing of puberty does some meaningful implications and its impact differs somewhat for boys and girls.