This little fellow knows perfectly well that he is still a baby while his friends have grown up. He's interested in athletics, but he can't compete with the larger, stronger boys. He gets teased in the locker room about his sexual immaturity, and his self-esteem nose dives. The prepubertal child can often be the worst troublemaker in school since he has to prove his doubtful manhood. The Late-Maturing Girl.
Life is no easier for the girl whose internal clock is on the slow side.
She looks down at her flat chest and then glances at her busty friends. For two or three years, her girlfriends have been sharing confidences about menstruation, but she can't participate in the discussions. The Early-Maturing Girl. If it is disadvantageous to be late in maturing, one would think that the opposite would be emotionally healthy. Since girls tend to develop sexually one or two years before boys on an average, the girl who enters puberty before other girls is miles ahead of others her age.