How Biological Fathers Slow Pubertal Development in Daughters

Fathers have a profound impact on the health, well being and development of their children. This is documented in telomere length, the tiny protective endcaps of our chromosomes which keep them from becoming frayed or tangled, thus increasing lifespan. Additionally, involved, married fatherhood is documented to healthily regulate men’s sexual energy, thus settling them down into more engaged family life.

There are many ways that healthy family formation positively impacts important but unseen parts of the human body.

Take for instance adolescent females’ pubertal maturation and entry into womanhood. Having their biological father in the home helps them delay the onset of menses which boosts many important health measures.

Bruce J. Ellis is a scholar who has looked at this question in great depth.

His work, done in cooperation with other scholars, tells us that “girls growing up in homes without their biological fathers tend to go through puberty earlier than their peers.” When comparing sisters who both experienced different fathering situations at different stages in their families, it was found that “younger sisters from disrupted families who were exposed to serious paternal dysfunction in early childhood attained menarche 11 months earlier” than their sisters who didn’t experience the loss of a warm, engaging father in their family. These researchers conclude,

Early exposure to disordered paternal behavior, followed by family disruption and residential separation from the father, can lead to substantially earlier menarche.

In an earlier study, professor Ellis explains that a great deal of research demonstrates that “cohesive family relationships and frequency of contact with biological parents are associated with later pubertal timing in daughters.” More specifically, Ellis states,

Converging evidence from a number of methodologically sound studies has indicated that:

(a) girls from father-absent homes tend to experience earlier pubertal development than do girls from father-present homes, and the earlier father absence occurs, the greater the effect;

(b) better marital quality is associated with later pubertal development in daughters; and

(c) greater parent–child warmth and cohesion predicts later pubertal development.

In addition, there is consistent evidence that quality of fathers’ investment in the family uniquely predicts timing of pubertal development in daughters independently of other aspects of the family ecology.

Research by other scholars support Ellis’s work.

A national probability sample of over 5,000 women were studied in Great Britain to track when they first got their periods at adolescence, measured against other life factors. This scholar confidently asserts, “The present study demonstrated that an absent father in childhood predicts an early menarche in a British national probability sample of women” adding that their study “supports previous studies on this issue.”

Another study from the University of Chicago extended this finding, explaining  that not only was the initiation of menses earlier for girls from fatherless homes, but an early interest in infants was also present.

This research team explained, “both menarche and interest in infants were independently associated with early father absence from home such that father-absent girls exhibited earlier menarche and greater attraction to infant visual stimuli than father-present girls.”

They continue, “Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that father absence is associated with a developmental trajectory characterized by earlier readiness for reproduction and parenting.”

Why does female sexual maturation happen sooner when a young girl lives apart from her biological father and in the presence of unrelated adult males?

Some research indicates an invisible but powerful interaction happens between girls and unrelated men who enter their lives and homes: pheromones. Bruce Ellis explains how a mother’s boyfriend, cohabiting partner, or new husband can have this invisible but very real negative influence on female maturation while the biological father’s presence and interaction is protective.

Ellis explains that “children who live in cohabiting parent families are about three times as likely as children living in [biological] married families to be exposed to a biologically unrelated parent.” He points out that “this exposure changes the pheromonal environment of the child, which may in turn influence pubertal and sexual development.” He explains how this effect was supported in his research.

Ellis concludes,

We found that more father-daughter affectionate-positivity and more mother-daughter affectionate-positivity each predicted less pubertal development by daughters in the seventh grade.

Physical and Emotional Risks of Early Pubertal Onset

There are many important and substantial effects for girls getting their periods early. Ellis and others in the medical literature explain, “Early onset of puberty in girls is associated with negative health and psychosocial outcomes.”

Early maturing girls are more likely to become sexually engaged earlier, have higher rates of teen pregnancy, have babies with low birth weight, experience unhealthy weight gain, possess less healthy personal body image, experience greater emotional problems like depression and anxiety, engage in greater substance abuse and even be at greater risk for breast cancer later in life.

In another study, Ellis explains,

In conclusion, father absence was an overriding risk factor for early sexual activity and adolescent pregnancy. Conversely, father presence was a major protective factor against early sexual outcomes, even if other risk factors were present.

All of this research indicates the important protective factors that biological fathers bring to the lives of their daughters’ physical and emotional development.

Additional Research and Resources

How Fatherlessness Negatively Impacts Telomere Length

How Marriage and Fatherhood Regulate Men’s Sexual Energy

Important New Research on How Married Parents Improve Child Well-Being

Married Fatherhood Makes Men Better

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