Self-assessment of pubertal maturation in socially disadvantaged learning-disabled adolescents

Abstract

Reasonable concordance has been demonstrated between physicians assessment of pubertal maturation and self-assessment by healthy adolescents studying in the mainstream educational system. The purpose of this study was to determine whether pubertal maturation self-assessment may be used as a reliable screening instrument in learning-disabled adolescents. Self-assessment of sexual maturation, was investigated in 80 7th- and 8th-grade Israeli students studying in a residential school for socially disadvantaged learning-disabled adolescents of normal intelligence (LD group), and in 63 Israeli students of the same age group attending a mainstream urban school (C group). All 143 students were examined by one investigator for their annual physicals, and clinical assessment of Tanner stage was then performed. Following the examination students were asked to identify their present pubic hair maturation stage according to Tanner plates. Of the LD group, 58% assessed their pubertal stage in agreement with the investigator's assessment as did 70% of the C group. Underestimation of pubertal stage was more common in students more advanced in their pubertal development, and overestimation was more common among students who were less advanced in their maturation. Within approximation of one Tanner stage difference between the examiner and student assessments, concordance rate reached 95% in both groups. Self-assessment of pubertal development in school settings may be used as a reliable screening instrument in learning-disabled adolescents with normal intelligence, when an approximation of one developmental stage is accepted.