評(píng)論
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In the late 1980s, when Marcia Herman-Giddens was working in a paediatric clinic at Duke University Medical Centre in North Carolina she noticed a puzzling phenomenon. More and more girls aged eight or nine who visited the clinic had started to sprout breasts. At the time, medical orthodoxy held that the average age of puberty for girls in the west was over 11. The numbers of under-10s that Herman-Giddens was seeing did not fit with this scenario. She began collecting data that eventually produced a study with the American Academy of Pediatrics that studied 17,000 girls and found that the average age of breast-budding among white girls was 9.9 years while for black girls it was 8.8.
20世紀(jì)80年代末，馬西婭•赫爾曼-吉登斯在卡羅萊納州北部的杜克大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)中心的兒科診所工作時(shí)，她發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個(gè)令人費(fèi)解的現(xiàn)象。越來越多來診所的八九歲女孩已開始出現(xiàn)乳房。當(dāng)時(shí)，醫(yī)學(xué)正統(tǒng)界認(rèn)為西部女孩的青春期平均年齡在11歲以上。赫爾曼-吉登斯看到的眾多十歲以下的女孩并不符合這種情況。她開始收集數(shù)據(jù)，在研究17000名女孩之后最終與美國(guó)兒科學(xué)會(huì)得出了結(jié)論，發(fā)現(xiàn)白人女孩胸部發(fā)育的平均年齡為9.9歲，而黑人女孩為8.8歲。
The discovery was hugely controversial. Many doctors refused to accept the fact that more and more girls had begun to mature sexually before they had reached the age of 10. "The Lolita syndrome [the prurient fascination with the sexuality of young girls] created a lot of emotional interest," recalls Herman-Giddens, now at the University of North Carolina. "As a feminist, I wish it didn't."
該發(fā)現(xiàn)引發(fā)了巨大的爭(zhēng)議。許多醫(yī)生拒絕接受這樣的事實(shí)，即越來越多的女孩在她們到達(dá)10歲之前就開始性成熟。“洛麗塔情結(jié)（對(duì)小女孩的單純性迷戀）產(chǎn)生了很多情感興趣，目前在北卡羅萊納大學(xué)的赫爾曼-吉登斯回憶說。“作為一個(gè)女權(quán)主義者，我希望事實(shí)并非如此。”
Today most doctors accept that the age of onset of puberty is dropping steadily. Many studies have showed this to be the case for girls, and new research carried out by Herman-Giddens, and published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, has found the same for boys. The age of onset of biological adulthood continues to plunge. Consider the statistics provided by German researchers. They found that in 1860, the average age of the onset of puberty in girls was 16.6 years. In 1920, it was 14.6; in 1950, 13.1; 1980, 12.5; and in 2010, it had dropped to 10.5. Similar sets of figures have been reported for boys, albeit with a delay of around a year.
今天，大多數(shù)醫(yī)生接受青春期開始的年齡在逐漸下降。許多研究都表明這正應(yīng)對(duì)女孩的情況，由赫爾曼-吉登斯開展以及美國(guó)兒科學(xué)會(huì)公布的新研究已發(fā)現(xiàn)這同樣適用于男孩。生理上的成年期開始的年齡繼續(xù)大幅下挫。考慮到德國(guó)研究人員提供的統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在1860年，女孩進(jìn)入青春期的平均年齡為16.6歲。1920年為14.6歲，在1950年為13.1歲，1980年,為12.5歲，并在2010年已經(jīng)降到10.5歲。男孩也報(bào)告了一組類似的數(shù)字，雖然有一年左右的延遲。
What factors lie behind this trend? Why are our children reaching biological adulthood at earlier and earlier ages? And what are the medical implications of this? Answers to these questions are still debated, although most scientists and health experts believe that the initial decline in the age in puberty was linked to general improvements in health in the west that began in the late 19th century. The trouble is that this drop, which was expected to stop, has simply continued at the same rate: a decline in four to five months in age of onset for each passing decade.
這一趨勢(shì)背后的因素是什么？為什么我們的孩子達(dá)到生理成熟的年齡越來越早？這一現(xiàn)象的醫(yī)學(xué)暗示是什么？對(duì)這些問題的答案仍存在爭(zhēng)議，盡管大多數(shù)科學(xué)家和健康專家認(rèn)為，在青春期年齡的初始下降與西方19世紀(jì)后期開始的健康條件的普遍改善有關(guān)。問題在于預(yù)計(jì)將停止的這個(gè)下降，只是還在以同樣的速度繼續(xù)：每10年發(fā)育年齡會(huì)下降4到5個(gè)月。
This relentless slide has begun to worry doctors who have proposed a host of causes to explain it. Increasing obesity is often quoted. In the young it is thought to increase blood levels of oestrogens that promote breast development and early studies seemed to confirm this by linking puberty to higher body mass index. However, a Danish study released last year in the journal Paediatrics found puberty occurring earlier in children regardless of body mass index at age seven.
這種無情的下滑已經(jīng)開始使那些提出了很多原因來解釋它的醫(yī)生擔(dān)心。不斷增加的肥胖經(jīng)常被作為原因。它被認(rèn)為是增加了年輕人血液中的雌激素從而促進(jìn)了乳房發(fā)育，早期的研究通過把青春期和較高的身體質(zhì)量指數(shù)相聯(lián)系似乎證實(shí)了這一點(diǎn)。然而，去年發(fā)表在兒科雜志上的丹麥研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，不論身體質(zhì)量指數(shù)如何，兒童的青春期七歲時(shí)就更早地發(fā)育了。
Other factors that may be involved include a diet that is increasingly high in sugar and fat and declining physical activity. The cause could also be environmental, say other researchers – in particular, exposure to endocrine disrupters, chemicals in the environment that act on hormones.
其他可能涉及到的因素包括飲食中越來越高的糖和脂肪以及身體鍛煉的減少。也可能是環(huán)境的原因，其他研究人員說——尤其是暴露在環(huán)境中的內(nèi)分泌干擾物以及化學(xué)物質(zhì)影響到了荷爾蒙。
Widespread industrial and pharmaceutical pollutants have already been shown to harm the normal sexual development of fish and animals. By extension, they may also contribute to earlier or disrupted puberty in children, these scientists contend.
大范圍的工業(yè)和制藥業(yè)污染已被證明傷害了魚和動(dòng)物的正常性發(fā)育。推而廣之，他們也可能導(dǎo)致孩子的青春期提前或中斷，這些科學(xué)聲稱。
As to the likelihood that precocious puberty poses perils for young people, this is still debated – though many parents worry that early sexual development puts strain on children who are being robbed of years of innocent childhood.
由于性早熟的可能性給年輕人帶來了危險(xiǎn)，這仍然存在爭(zhēng)議——盡管許多家長(zhǎng)擔(dān)心性早熟給孩子們?cè)斐蓧毫Γ麄冋粍儕Z掉天真無邪的童年。
