Prospective study of psychological development of adolescent female athletes: initial assessment.
J Adolesc Health
; 15(3): 258-62, 1994 May.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-8075098
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
This study aimed at assessing the impact of physical training on psychological functioning at the onset of a prospective study of psychological and somatic maturation of adolescent female athletes.METHODS:
Twenty-seven highly trained gymnasts aged 12.7 +/- 1.1 year (mean +/- SD, training load = 18-26 hr/week) and 16 age-matched but moderately trained swimmers (13.0 +/- 0.9 yr, training load 4-15 hr/wk) were submitted to standardized somatic and psychiatric examinations during training camps.RESULTS:
Gymnasts were significantly shorter, lighter and thinner (p < 0.001) than swimmers. Their bone age was moderately but significantly retarded (-1.42 +/- 0.99 yr, p < 0.001) in contrast with swimmers in whom it was adequate for chronological age (+0.28 +/- 0.94 year, ns). Only 7.4% of gymnasts had already had menarche in contrast with 50% of age-matched swimmers (p = 0.003). Psychological functioning was considered as normal in all subjects. However, seven athletes including 3/27 gymnasts and 4/16 swimmers (p = 0.394) were considered as subjects "at risk" to develop a manifest mental disorder over time. Ten gymnasts (41.7%) presented with a global delay in psychological maturation, whereas no such case was observed among swimmers (p = 0.015). No correlation could be established between psychological delay and pubertal retardation (p = 0.210).CONCLUSION:
Strenuous training in gymnastics for more than 1 yr has so far no detectable interference with the normal maturational events of adolescence. The outcome of athletes at risk to develop psychopathology as well as those with a global delay in psychological maturation who presented as if they were still in the latency period, remains uncertain.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Swimming
/
Psychology, Adolescent
/
Growth
/
Gymnastics
/
Human Development
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
J Adolesc Health
Journal subject:
PEDIATRIA
Year:
1994
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Switzerland