3.19, «Act Your Age») Character: a six - year - old who's been
affected by their father's sexual - enhancement cream and, as a result, is going through
puberty early.
Some support has been found for an association between hormonal concentrations and negative
affect20 - 24; however, social factors, including negative life events and their interaction with pubertal status (but not hormonal status), account for more of the variance in negative
affect than biological factors alone.25
Early pubertal timing and its social implications have also been postulated as an important risk factor in girls.26 - 31 Two recent studies, however, report that pubertal status has a greater influence in predicting female depression than age32, 33 or the timing of
puberty.32