Timing of pubertal maturation according to the age at first conscious ejaculation

Summary The first conscious ejaculation (ejacularche) is an important event in the somatic and psychic development of boys. The aim of this study was to reveal the age at first ejaculation in Bulgarian boys and to observe the secular trend of this marker for puberty. A total of 1582 (901 from urban and 681 from rural origin respectively) gave a positive answer admitting the age in years at the first ejaculation. The mean age ± standard deviation (SD) of ejacularche was 13.27 ± 1.08 years, and the median was 13.0. It was found a significant difference between the urban (13.34 ± 1.07) and rural (13.18 ± 1.08) inhabitants in relation to the age of their remembered first ejaculation (P = 0.003). A secular trend in appearance of ejacularche was revealed when our results were compared with those from the previous studies in Bulgaria. We can suggest that in the presence of testicular volume ≥6 ml asking about ejaculation is reasonable and not superfluous. Self-reported spontaneous ejaculation can be used as an index of male pubertal timing.