Psychosocial risk and correlates of early menarche in Mexican-American girls

Mexican-American girls have one of the fastest rates of decline in age at menarche. To date, no study has addressed the role of psychosocial factors on age at menarche in this population. Using data from a longitudinal cohort of Mexican-American girls from the Houston, Texas, metropolitan area recruited in 2005, the authors investigated associations between family life and socioeconomic environment and age at menarche in 523 girls. After adjusting for maternal age at menarche, daughter's age, and body mass index at baseline, perception of family life environment as conflict-prone was significantly associated with an earlier age at menarche (< 11 years). Additionally, there was a 2-fold higher risk (odds ratio = 2.22, 95% confidence interval: 1.12, 4.40) of early menarche among daughters of mothers who were single parents compared with those who were not. Furthermore, girls who matured early had a 2.5-fold increased risk (odds ratio = 2.69, 95% confidence interval: 1.04, 6.96) of experimenting with cigarettes compared with those who had an average-to-late age at menarche (≥ 11 years). This study provides important information regarding the role of family life environment and single parenting on age at menarche in Mexican Americans. Awareness of the impact of the family life environment and fathers' absence during the early years should be emphasized when addressing early age at menarche across cultures.