Pubertal Timing

Puberty in essence is a life changing event for males and females, typically following a time of significant physical growth. Puberty is the stage in life when secondary sex characteristics are developing, sexual organs mature due to production of sex hormones. This naturally occurs during adolescence, the stage in life between childhood and adulthood. Nonetheless, Feldman (2014) points out the fact that physical changes begin earlier for girls typically at the age of 10, with sexual organ development generally around the ages of 11-12. On the other hand, physical changes for boys, frequently occurs later, around the age of 12, with development of sexual organs around the age of 13-14. Nevertheless there has been a trend towards early maturation of both male and females, this can bring about advantages and disadvantages for both sexes (Feldman, 2014). This author will discuss the pros and cons of early versus late maturation in boys versus girls in 21st century U.S. society as well as how media reinforces maturation for pre-teens and teens.

Puberty refers to the adolescent physiological development and psychological development period of rapid change, the transition from childhood period to adulthood; a critical period of life and worldview is gradually formed. Usually is after the child 10 years old. In the transition to adult sexual development, performance, body, and an important period of heart full development characterize sexual maturity. Sexual maturity is the core of puberty.

The purpose of study one is to demonstrate if there was an association between the times the young girls get their period and if they develop an eating disorder, body dimorphism or other psychological variables. The participant’s average age was 20 years old; they also took their height which averaged out to 5 '5 and their BMI which averaged out to 22.12. They also took into consideration their relationship status, their religion and their race. The second study demonstrated if there was an association of young girl’s perception of their bodies before they started puberty and developing eating disorders, body dimorphic or other psychological variables. Each participant was a volunteer and to keep it as unbiased as possible they were

Describe any physical or behavioral signs of puberty. What are you must worried about at this stage of development? Will you discuss issues related to reproductive health with your child? Will you have the conversation with your child or will you ask someone else to do it on your behalf--why/why not? What key things would you want your child to know? (5 points for describing signs of puberty in your child, 5 points for discussing issues to consider at this stage, 5 points for discussing how you will handle issues of reproductive health, what you want them to know, 5 points for textbook support)

During puberty, testosterone increases and the body becomes more sensitive and it begins to respond to the increase in testosterone. Sex organs, such as the scrotum and the penis tend to grow larger, and secondary sex characteristics, such as a deeper voice become more prevalent (Live

Are the feelings of having a negative body image, in the pubescent adolescent, caused only by their changing hormones? Do family values and belief systems have an impact on the way the adolescent views their body? Can parents override the negative body image ideas which permeate our digital and print media? While there are many factors which influence the pubescent adolescent, both positively and negatively, it is the images of what is “normal” which are portrayed in the media, that have the most profound negative effect on the development of a positive body image.

The following chapters reviewed the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development of adolescence, which consists of children between the ages of eleven and nineteen. The sexual maturation process of puberty is a key developmental change that occurs in adolescent children. There are distinct transformations that characterize a girl’s development from a boy’s maturation. Girls experience the growth of breast tissue, an added layer of fat on her skin, and menstruation, while boys develop broad shoulders, enlargement of the testes and the production of sperm (Papalia & Martorell, 2014). A child’s cognitive processing continues to improve throughout this developmental phase. An adolescent can now carry out more complex problems through abstract reasoning. Structural and functional changes are also a cognitive transformation during this age range (Papalia & Martorell, 2014). In the adolescent phase, a child’s psychosocial development includes searching for identity, exploring his/her sexuality, and relying more on peers for support (Papalia & Martorell, 2014).

In my household, I was the second of the four daughters to mature under my parents’ roof. With that being said, I witnessed the same cycle four times: confusion, growth, anger, and acceptance. Here, I observed the transition from adolescent to adult, with the terrible case of puberty in between the two. As stated previously, being one of four daughters allowed almost complete understanding of the female body, but I was naïve about the maturation of a male. Teen Species: Understanding the Adolescent is a series of videos that has opened my eyes to a stronger understanding of research for both young males and females. The videos have abetted me of both males and females, assisted my comprehension of science behind our growths, and has allowed

Regardless of the mechanism, the present study provides evidence that the pubertal period in males and females is a critical developmental window when nonreproductive behavior changes rapidly. Furthermore, it supports the notion that adolescence is not uniform, and studies exploring adolescent development should account for pubertal onset for both males and

Are the feelings of having a negative body image, in the pubescent adolescent, caused only by their changing hormones? Do family values and belief systems have an impact on the way the adolescent view their body? Can parents override the negative body image ideas which permeate our digital and print media? While there are many factors which influence the pubescent adolescent, both positively and negatively, it is the images of what is “normal” which are portrayed in the media, which have the most profound negative effect on the development of a positive body image.

The male gender role is beginning to emerge as an important and legitimate controversial topic. There are two conditions that defined a male: biological and social. Biology provides a dichotomous male and female prototypes. Male babies are traditionally born with one X and one Y chromosome, as well as the genitalia, called the testes. A key biological function of males is the reproduction, in which a male attempts to produce offspring that will carry their genes. Males typically have higher testosterone levels than females, which stimulates the development of male secondary sexual characteristics, such as aggression, growth in hairs, testes, and muscles. However, the social components of a male play a significant role in the definition of a

In the field of Psychology there are many different topics that come about when learning about the essentials of life span development. Life span development consists of numerous things that people encounter from birth, childhood, adolescents, and adulthood. Today let's analyze the gender differences between the timing of an adolescent's first sexual behavior. The reason for these differences between the gender can be made up of multiple things. Some researchers may say that sexual orientation, race, culture or other demographic characteristics play a role. When looking at this particular topic, for boys participating in sexual behaviors is consider normally. Where as for a girl it is looked downed on because of the risk of pregnancy at a young age. The timing for boys and girls first sexual behavior mainly depends on the maturity and physical level of the adolescents. Most can confirm that it is likely for girls to mature faster than boys because of the physical changes and thought process that happens so fast within the female adolescent's body.

The primary task of an adolescent is identity development in a social and peer context that plays a significant role (Erikson, 1993; Berk, 2014). According to a self-report study, Kretsch et al. (2016) suggest that there are cross-cultural differences among peers in perceived development in which there are differences in pubertal timing regarding ethnic and race differences. The findings show that “non-Hispanic White adolescents mature slightly later than African American and Hispanic adolescents” (Sun et al. 2002 in Kretsch et al., 2016). Also, peer friends are comparable in a wide-ranging aspect of “physical appearance, including body mass index” (Cohen-Cole & Fletcher 2008; Fowler & Christakis, 2008 in Kretsch et al., 2016), which is correlated

1. Chapter 9, “Adolescence” Body and Mind,” section Puberty explains the physical and mental changes that teenagers go through, it’s the state in which they transition from children to young adults, incapable of completely just one or the other (Berger, 315). The first changes of puberty, physically-wise, begins around the ages of 9 – 13 years’ old for both boys and girls, which include facial and body hair, deepening of the voice, and of course body growth; such as the hands, feet, face, and private parts. Although genetics do play a role of the timing of these body changes, environmental, emotional, and cultural factors can also affect the time and age when puberty happens. Sometimes it’s delayed, other times the process is quicker than norm. “About two thirds of the variation of age of puberty is genetic, evident not only in families, but also in ethnic groups…precocious puberty is genetic, but the cause of the increase is largely unknown – perhaps childhood obesity or new chemicals in the environment” (Berger, 320-321). Among puberty, adolescents’ nutrition become poor due to body image…In addition, there eating disorders that teenagers discover during their transition, they are more “vulnerable to unhealthy eating,” and unlike childhood, “eating disorders increase drastically during puberty” (Berger, 325). This part of the chapter explains two major and serious types of eating disorders. Anorexia Nervosa is a voluntarily starvation in which a person will starve him or

What role does early puberty play in sex? As childhood slowly fades away and the signs of puberty becomes apparent on the young adolescent body. During puberty the body undergoes many physical changes that seemingly just appear. For girls in the early years of adolescence may not see any secondary changes in their appearance however their ovaries began to grow. In recent years girls have been experiencing puberty at early periods rather than 8-11 years old. Because of evidence linking early maturation to adjustment and body image problems we should not consider early maturation to be an advantage for girls (Jaffe, 1998). Taking a look at the fashion industry, they have already