PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT AND ABSENCE OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN MALES WITH PRECOCIOUS PUBERTY

The psychological maturation of males with physical sexual precocity otherwise keeps in step with that of boys of the same chronological and/or social age, but accelerated social maturation may be deliberately fostered in order to bridge the gap between chronological age and physique age.

Abstract

Four males with idiopathic sexual precocity and 14 males with sexual precocity secondary to virilizing adrenal hyperplasia were seen in a longitudinal study of psychosexual development for up to 18 years. The distinguishing psychological traits of sexual precocity in the male so far uncovered are: a tendency to high IQ, as previously reported by Money and Lewis (17) and Money and Meredith (18); increased energy expenditure, especially in infancy; a possible increased incidence (by no means universal) of behavior tantrums and impulsive anger; early occurrence of the capacity for frankly sexual imagery in dreams and daydreams, its content, however, determined by cognitional experience; and early establishment of the capacity for erotic and sexual arousal in relation to visual imagery and visual perception as well as tactile sensation. It is possible, though not proven, that by influencing development of central nervous system pathways in utero, or by a triggering mechanism later in pubertal childhood, androgen may be responsible for these various traits. The psychological maturation of males with physical sexual precocity otherwise keeps in step with that of boys of the same chronological and/or social age. Accelerated social maturation may be deliberately fostered in order to bridge the gap between chronological age and physique age.