Childhood social disadvantage and pubertal timing: A national birth cohort from Australia

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Early pubertal timing is linked with a range of adverse health outcomes later. Given recent trends of earlier pubertal maturation, there is growing interest in the factors influencing pubertal timing. Socioeconomic disadvantage has been previously linked with reproductive strategies later in life. In this study, we aim to determine the association between cumulative social disadvantages in early life and early puberty in a population-based birth cohort. Methods: Data are from the B (baby) cohort of The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Children (n = 5107) were aged 0 to 1 years when recruited in 2004 and 10 to 11 years (n = 3764) at Wave 6 in 2015. Househo..