Originally posted by worldwatcher
Twenty- thirty years ago, children developed much more slowly than they now, not only in the physical, but in the emotional and pyschological. Twenty
years ago, infants would barely open their eyes in their first month or two, as they developed, today babies are born with a strange and fascinating
alertness and awareness that out rivals what we experienced in the past. Puberty seems to start alot sooner in this present time than it did about
twenty years ago and the urge to start and live life as their own person is happening earlier too.
I don't question that such things are happening, but your time frame is way off. The changes in human development you mention were already
documented some twenty to thirty years ago and there has been little change since then.
Concern has been expressed that an early onset of sexual development among girls could be related to the current epidemic of childhood obesity and its
associated comorbidity at these ages.1 However, the median (mean) age at menarche for all US girls has not changed significantly in 30 years with a
shift of only 4 months in that period. Only 10% of all US girls, regardless of race, start to menstruate before 11 years of age. Girls in the United
States are not gaining reproductive potential earlier than in the immediate past in regard to their menstrual status. Non-Hispanic black girls,
however, exhibit a 5.5-month earlier age at menarche than 30 years ago, and they do have an earlier age at onset in their Tanner stages20 as well.
There are no suitable comparative data for Mexican American girls from previous decades, so it is not possible to make an assessment if menarche in
these girls is earlier or later than in the past.
pediatrics.aappublications.org...
Actually, the cultural changes over the last 15 years have been quite small, compared to the changes that happened in the decade from 1961-1970, which
can be attributed to the coming of age of baby boomers, and the decade from 1981-1990, which coincides with the introduction of crack cocaine into the
inner-cities. One might argue that methamphetimine has had a profound effect on American society, but that effect has been somewhat slower and more
diffuse than the crack phenomenon of the eighties.
[edit on 2005/12/8 by GradyPhilpott]
Sorry, Coeixist, if I repeated what you already posted. I went back and re-read your previous post and your's is much better detailed. The
"resonant frequency" theory seems to be one of the possible culprits for the feeling of time speeding up then, which we both agree on.
