Is it better for boys to develop early or late?

The physical development of children is a very complicated matter. We can see that some children of the same age develop earlier, which can be clearly seen from their weight and height. For children who develop late, parents worry about retardation. For children who develop early, some parents worry about precocious puberty. They can't even judge whether early or late is better. So, is it better for boys to develop early or late? Let’s take a look below.

Is it good for boys to develop early?

It is not necessarily a good thing for boys to develop too early, as it may be precocious puberty. If a boy's testicles grow rapidly before the age of 9, his external genitalia are like those of an adult; his bones develop prematurely, he grows a beard, thick body hair, and pubic hair prematurely, and he has an enlarged Adam's apple, a low and rough voice, and acne on his skin; he has sexual impulses towards the opposite sex, etc., then this will be medically determined to be precocious puberty. Some of the characteristics of precocious puberty in boys can be discovered by parents, such as whether they have beards, body hair and other physical characteristics. In fact, bone age testing is the scientific method to determine whether a boy has precocious puberty.

1. The trend of accelerated growth and development. Due to factors such as improved living standards, better nutrition, and reduced diseases, this generation of children has experienced earlier sexual development and maturity.

2. The impact of environmental pollution. Foreign literature reports that substances discharged into the environment by the washing, pesticide, and plastic industries and their decomposition products can produce environmental hormone pollutants. These pollutants have been found to have estrogenic activity and are absorbed through water, food, and skin, becoming the cause of pseudo-precocious puberty and true precocious puberty.

4. The influence of social and psychological factors. For example, the content related to sex in television, movies, newspapers, magazines, etc. has increased significantly compared to before. Some children can be exposed to behavioral scenes beyond their psychological age from movies and TV at an early age.

5. Influence of disease. Factors such as intracranial tumors, adrenal diseases, thyroid diseases, genetics, ovarian diseases, liver diseases, etc. may cause children to experience precocious puberty.