Obtained From the Journal of the American

¶ … obtained from the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. It is a case study regarding sexual hyperactivity treated with psycho stimulants (methylphenidate or MPH) for a condition called familial male precocious puberty. Familial male precocious puberty is "a form of precocious puberty resulting from an activating mutation of the luteinizing hormone receptor" (Weissenberger, 2001). The definition of precocious puberty is described as a condition of advanced sexual maturation. The first significant bodily changes tend to occur in females before age 8 and in males before age 9 (Weissenberger, 2001). This case study refers to a 5-year-old boy who was previously diagnosed with FMPP.

The independent variable, or the factor that the researcher can vary, in this "experiment" was the type of medication the child was put on to treat his FMPP. Before he was initially treated at the National Institute of Health, he was being treated with a drug called ketoconazole, which was supposed to block the production of testosterone. The treatment was unsuccessful. His family physician diagnosed him with ADHD and began treating him with MPH that reduced dramatically his previously inappropriate behavior. The behavior resulting from his medication (independent variable) is defined as the dependent variable, or the behavior that is being measured.

Obviously, this subject had to be hand picked for the research to have any validity. With is being so specific, the researcher could not have used any random patients in the hopes that they would have the exact same condition. The purpose of her research is not to draw a conclusion as some larger studies do, but to initiate further large studies as to the effect of the MPH as she witnessed in the subject (Weissenberger, 2001).

The study of the subject goes on with the physical examination and conversation with the child's mother. The mother gives a full family history which leads to the introduction of other family members with the same condition as the child, but with less severe symptoms. The child himself is already experiencing acne, growth of hair, extreme penile discomfort, and is said to look quite older chronologically than other five-year-olds. He is unable to attend school due to his outbursts and inappropriate sexual activity toward girls. His mother has had to quit working to stay home with him because of his self-stimulation.

The researcher is unable to gather much information from the patient himself, because he refuses to speak with her. The mental status has to be ascertained through his mother and the nursing staff. Overall, the lack of actual data from the child himself hurts the validity of the study. However, most children are more difficult to deal with socially, especially at such a young age. It is not as conclusive regarding the behavioral changes in the child when the child cannot attest to the changes himself. Perhaps a larger study could have validated this a little more.

Certainly the reliability of the study should not be questioned. Not only is the JAACP a respected journal of academia, but also the study itself seems to leave no holes in the research despite the obvious problems when observing a child. The researcher is very detailed in her dealings with the child and his mother, including the history gathered from his mother. The researcher lays out the reasons for reporting the case study in the introduction of her paper, and certainly validates those reasons with her data and observations.

In the discussion section of her article, the researcher explains why the findings were so credible and surprising to her and why she feels they should initiate even further studies of this manner. That section is perhaps what is typically labeled a "conclusion" in a scientific lab study. She uses data to back up her thoughts on the reduction of ADHD using stimulants, but marvels more so at the dramatic reduction of the sexual behavior in the child because of the stimulation of sexual behavior in adults when medicated with MPH.