ABSTRACT
The present research integrates to some extent these several approaches. Researches utilizing the pre-postmenarcheal differentiation have primarily comprised cross-sectional studies, with a few exceptions. The researcher who uses pubertal-timing information for differentiating girls might, but need not, be interested in the impact of the menarcheal event. The pubertal-timing differentiation of girls has been used consistently in the present research. Empirically, researchers have focused their attention on some parts of this complex interactive system at the expense of others, resulting in scattered and often inconsistent findings. The research reported is based on an explicit interactional formulation. It attempts to map the interplay of biological, psychological, and sociocultural influences in order to disentangle the role of pubertal maturation, and it proposes a framework within which to analyze the significance of pubertal timing for social behaviors in adolescence.
