Special Interests and Puberty

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I'm wondering if it's possible to have special interests appear in puberty without having had any during childhood.

I had many things I loved as a kid, but some obsessive behaviors are normal as a kid. It wasn't until I hit puberty that the litany of special interests and obsessions started. I've had about a half dozen or so over the years since I was in fifth grade, but I can't really remember anything being "special interest"-y before then. Like many kids, I watched the same movies over and over, but I don't count that as a special interest because many kids see the need to watch Pocahontas 532 times (might be an exaggeration!).

What was your pattern in special interests? Have you had special interests consistently, or have there been times when you haven't had any at all?

Note that I am not talking about specific interests. I am not asking for you to list your special interests (though you're welcome to do so as part of your answer) but to look at the overall pattern of how many special interests you've had over time.

A lot of people develop a special interest in the opposite sex around the time of puberty.

I got interested in many things post-puberty, and lost interest in others.

Up until I was about 14 I was obsessed with reptiles. I was well versed in their care and had quite a collection of lizards, snakes, turtles, etc. Around the time I was 14 I just lost interest. It worked out for the best because my mom and I had been forced to move in with my grandparents at the time and my grandmother was very vocal about not wanting my reptiles in her home. Particularly snakes. My grandfather, also, did not approve. Every time I fed my snake in their home he told me he didn't like feeling like an accessory to the murder of the poor mouse in question... even though I bought them frozen. I tried to reason with him asking how he felt about the murder of the fish he'd had for dinner, or of the cow he had the day before, but he didn't see it that way, so I got rid of my reptiles. Found new homes for them. It was okay though because my interest had been dwindelling.

Also around 12-14, I became interested in the opposite sex, and had a period where I questioned my sexuality quite intensely. Was I gay? Was I not? I didn't know for about 5 years.

Anyways, around that time I became interested in many other things. Cars, aircraft, politics, history, geography, the inner workings of computers, and many more things.

Even my daydreams evolved. I was a terrible student and about 50% of my not-writing-anything-down time in school was spent staring blankly forward daydreaming about stuff. When I was younger it would be daydreams of owning a chameleon, my most coveted reptile pet that I never got. Later it was about videogames I wanted to get home to play, later it was about the girls I liked in school.

Everybody evolves as a person.

I think what the OP is asking is whether the actions of the pituitary gland can be attributed to changing interests. I'm not qualified to answer that. But my interests did change at that age.

Nothing quite so scientific as pituitary glands. I was just wondering if there could be significant gaps/lapses in special interests, particularly in the area of not having any before puberty-ish.

I didn't have any special interests until age 11, when I started puberty. I thought I was the only one until this thread came up.

Certain current special interests started after I turned 13.
Posting on forums.
Photography.
Playing online mmo video games.

I'm in my mid-50s and am still developing special interests.

But yes, a lot of my interests started when I hit puberty. Sex was one of them, but I investigated it on a purely intellectual/clinical level. I remember reading and re-reading "A Teenager's Guide to Life and Love" by Dr. Benjamin Spock. Up until then I had no idea that sex caused pregnancy. I knew what sex was, but didn't make the connection until reading that book.

Before puberty it was anything about space and music. We were flying to the moon back then and I loved learning about the planets of the solar system, etc. After puberty it became electronics and science fiction (especially Star Trek and 2001:A Space Odyssey). Synthesizers were starting to become popular as well and though my family could never have afforded even part of one, I listened to every kind of electronic and experimental music I could get my hands on from our county library.

I think I did the opposite...

I was very obsessive as a child; for example, when I was in 3rd grade I liked rocks and geology and passed almost all my time researching on those topics and I hardly did anything else. This lasted up to when I was 13/14, when I became much less obsessive and my interests became wider.
I don't think I'm really obsessed about anything anymore, except for the periodic "obsessions" for TV shows/movies/books/etc., but that's pretty common for everyone and it's not actual obsession. I still have my interests, but they're not as time-consuming as before.

I've had special interests my whole life. I never go very long without one. My first was when I was three years old (101 Dalmatians) and I can't really think of anytime where I didn't have one. I find that they usually come and go because a new interest is replacing it immediately (if that makes any sense)

I didn't have special interests until maybe about a year before puberty, but then when I finished puberty, I didn't have special interests anymore (or they weren't as strong at least).

I once got criticized when I was 12 (by a 16-year old) for not using my preteen/early teens to "explore" different interests. For me, that came later, in my late teens. She said that I would be allowed to have intense interests, because I was too young but apparently, she wasn't.

It's never been the most prominent feature of my autism anyway, but in my preteen and early/mid-teen years, it was up there.