Ge, 2003). It is suggested, however, that late maturation is also associated with problematic parent-child relationships because while late maturing girls strive for individuation too, the mothers of this group of adolescents are less accepting of such attempts (Weichold et al., 2003). Findings for boys suggest an interaction between timing and age such that early maturing males experience increased family conflict in early adolescence (11-13 years) while late maturers experience this increase in mid-adolescence (15 years; Simmons & Blyth, 1987). Collectively, these findings indicate that families with off-time maturing boys and girls may be most likely to experience disparities between parent and adolescent expectations about the timing of developmental tasks. This suggests that pubertal timing may moderate links between parent-child relationship quality and adolescent substance use.
