Teens 's Early Puberty Stages

In the book, Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence, the author, Lawrence Steinberg, starts out the first chapter by explaining how we once thought that the brain was mostly done maturing by adolescence, but with new research we are learning that the brain continues to develop into one’s twenties. He goes on to say that children are hitting puberty earlier in life and placing them “at significantly greater risk for a host of physical, mental, and behavioral problems, including depression, delinquency, and even cancer” (9). The reason why children are going through puberty is based on a mix on environmental and genetic influences. The more nourished and fed you are the higher chance of you going through puberty earlier. Although this was the case in 1850-1950, the continuing decline of age in puberty today, is due to more troubling reasons. The five mains reasons for today is: 1. Obesity 2. Artificial light 3. Endocrine disruptors 4. Premature birth 5. Family stress. Steinberg explains how adolescent is a time of neuroplasticity and the longer period of adolescence can have good consequences or severely negative consequences, depending on if they’re in a stimulating environment or a toxic environment.

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.

In this paper I plan to discuss the developmental stages of adolescence. Adolescents are also referred to as "teenagers" or "young adults." Adolescence begins after the childhood stage and ends right before adulthood. The years of adolescence range from 12 years old to 21 years old. The years of adolescence can be quite a roller coaster ride. Young people in this stage encounter a great deal of changes in their life as they prepare for adulthood. I will discuss emotional, intellectual, physiological, and social domains of development and how it relates to adolescents. I will also discuss some helpful tips for teachers to aide in communicating effectively to adolescents and understanding their

What were the Research Questions or Hypotheses in the article? Copy them directly from the article. Then, using YOUR OWN WORDS, briefly paraphrase what these mean. 5 points

| |Secondary sex characteristics develop – body shape, |Dual-process model – Advanced logical thought |Adolescents become independent and clash with the parents’ |

Puberty is a short way of saying a hormone cocktail. It makes who we are today. To jeopardize such a system at a young age would be detrimental. Endocrine disruptors can lead to an excess, or deficiency of a hormone. If this occurs during the development of the fetus, baby will not develop normally. Already, we can see the disruptors’ effects in fish. Certain populations are being feminized. In the future, this may be our own species. The biological gender balance would be thrown off, leaving men with eggs instead of sperm. Although this would stunt population growth, it will throw off

According to Brooks (2013), As the adolescent continues to grow in the late adolescent transition they will begin new life tasks: love, education, and work, meanwhile all these events occur the teen will spend less time in home activities and use the parents for guidance and advice. Parents of teens face dilemmas and have countless choices to make and react to without second thoughts. On how to raise and adapt to circumstances finding ways to support the teen and teach the skill they will use as they grow. This is how I would try to raise mine if I was this teens parent. My daughter Mariah is a 16-year-old sophomore that just entered a new romantic relationship having, her first boyfriend and doing less of family events. I would think she is

and in excess amounts are known to cause puberty at younger ages and endocrine disorders

Adolescence most important task is to develop an identity separate from one’s parents, a social and sexual role that supports their life. As an adolescence, peers are one factor that shapes you into who you are. However, it is easy to get caught up in the wrong crowd, experience insecurity, anxiety, depression, and have an increasingly high expectations of others. Biologically the changes during

Hormones found in food is causing early puberty in adolescents. In recent news article published by NBC News an eight year old girl started developing acne and breast. Her parents didn’t know how to cope with their daughter maturing at such an early age so they decided to take her to the doctor. There the little girl was diagnosed with early puberty and had to be treated with drug implants to slow down her sudden growth. Recent studies have shown that meat industry animals injected with synthetic growth hormones such as Zeranol, Trenbolone, and Melengestrol that leads to negatives effects to the people that consume the foods that the animals produce. Some of these hormones found in animals can throw off the natural chemical balance and affect your hormones. If children are consuming these foods with added hormones their natural balance may be thrown off which causes them to endure early puberty.

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 recent years, numerous newspaper and magazine articles have suggested that humans may be at risk because small amounts of well known environmental contaminants, such as dioxin, PCBs and DDT, can affect hormone levels. Hormones are produced by the endocrine system as regulators of biological function in target organs. Because hormones play a critical role in early development, toxicological effects on the endocrine system often have an impact on the reproductive system. The term endocrine disruptor is used to describe chemicals that can mimic hormones and may either enhance or counteract their effects. It has been suggested that these hormone changes can, in turn, lead to a variety of health problems

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

There are five characteristics that all adolescents have. These characteristics are biological growth and development, an undefined status, increased decision-making, increased pressures, and the search for self. The brain and the endocrine system control biological growth and development. During the early stages of adolescence, individuals experience growth in height and weight, changes in the body, the development of sexual characteristics, and skin problems. For example, I started getting curves in my body when I hit puberty. My body started to develop changes. Our society’s expectations for children and adults are clear, but for the adolescent, expectations are inexplicit. Some adolescents are treated like children, but some are treated like adults. There is an undefined status. For example, my parents pay for my lunch, but I have to have a job so I can support myself.

Adolescence is the distinct transitional stage between childhood and adulthood in human development, extending primarily over the teenage years and terminating legally when the age of majority is reached (Rathus, 2014). However in some instances, this biological, cognitive, social and emotional maturity may not be reached until a later stage and may be dictated by gender. Adolescence is characterised by rapidly changing and unpredictable behaviour (Freud, as cited in Rathus 2014), heightened and unstable emotions (Hall, as cited in Rathus 2014), disturbances in identity, the gradual development of one’s moral reasoning (Kohlberg, as cited in Rathus, 2014) and the gradual establishment of one’s independence. Several of these changes may occur at differing phases in adolescent growth. This development is categorized into three separate stages; early adolescence, middle adolescence, and late adolescence. Early Adolescence, commencing from the ages of eleven or twelve until the age of fourteen, comprises of several features such as rapid biological development and maturity, heightened stress levels and limited coping capabilities. On the other hand, middle adolescence, from the approximate age of fourteen to sixteen, involves the gradual cease of biological change, an increase in coping strategies and declined stress levels. Furthermore, late adolescence, commencing from the age of sixteen until the age of eighteen or nineteen, encompasses physical maturity, whereby the