The Current Debate Of Puberty

Girl’s breasts will begin to swell from around the age of 10 and continue. They will also develop hair in the pubic region which will darken and become curly. Their body shape will change to become more rounded and curvy. Some girls may be physically mature by the age of 15 and nearly at their full adult height although she may still develop larger breasts and a fuller figure. This is of course dependant on the age at which she begins puberty of which there are huge variations ranging from 8 until late teens. The average age for girls to begin menstruation is around 13.

Puberty begins for boys between 14-17 years and for girls between 13-16 years. May became sexually active

7–12 years – Around this time, a child will start refining the skills that they have learnt. They will continue to grow taller. They will have better management of the small and large movements. Girls may start to show signs of puberty at around 10 years of age.

Between 8 - 12 years they will greatly improve on their physical skills that are already acquired. Puberty will start at around 10 years old for girls with an increase in body strength and a sudden growth spurt.

Furthermore, media surrounds teenage girls in today’s culture. It is impossible to escape the sight of media. The media’s constant idealistic beauty is ever present to a vast amount of self-conscious girls. This image of beauty causes girls to have low self-esteem (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar). Media defining this perfect body image causes many adolescent girls to feel dissatisfied with their bodies and become depressed. “Viewing ultra-thin or average-size models led to decreases in both body satisfaction and self-esteem in adolescent girls aged eleven to sixteen, with changes in self-esteem fully mediated by changes in body satisfaction” (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar).

It is not clear why adolescence starts at a specific time. What is clear is that natural and social elements assume a part. This trend towards early maturation is believed to be a result of improved nutritional intake and a reduced amount of illness over the past century (Feldman, 2014). Additional factors that can influence early maturation in girls, according to Feldman (2014), would be the percentage of fat to muscle, moreover the

Teenage girls are at an impressionable time in their lives. Mass Media is a key idea in one of the factors of socialization that become important to teenagers. Teenagers look to the media for a sense of entertainment. Whether it is movies, magazines, or even some aspects of social media, teenagers get a lot of influence from the media’s message. The problem with this is the media has a specific way of doing things and can be negative to a susceptible teenage girl. Media’s way of portraying a woman can be skewed and unrealistic way from what reality is. Teenage girls then have a desire for this look or way. In this essay the three ways I will describe as to why the media can negatively affect a teenage girls body image is by showing

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.

Some physical signs of puberty I noticed on Gemma is that her breasts have been starting to develop and she has hit a growth spurt.

Researchers have discovered that “ongoing exposure to certain ideas can shape and distort our perceptions on reality.” (Mintz 2007) Because young girls are subjected to a constant display of beautiful people in the media, they have developed a negative body image of themselves. Those who have a negative body image perceive their body as being unattractive or even hideous compared to others, while those with a positive body image will see themselves as attractive, or will at least accept themselves and be comfortable in their own skin. During adolescence, negative body image is especially harmful because of the quick changes both physically and mentally occurring during puberty. Also, young girls are becoming more and more exposed to the media and the media keeps getting more and more provocative. Young girls are looking to women with unrealistic body shapes as role models. It’s hard to find, in today’s media, a “normal” looking

The importance of the body image and what is considered to be the ‘ideal’ body are two of the primary factors that contribute to the negative affect of the media on the teenage society of today.

Research with preadolescent children reports mixed findings about at what age body image becomes a real issue for them. Body-image dissatisfaction was believed to be associated with the onset of puberty. Current literature suggests that the development of body image dissatisfaction occurs as much as 3 to 4 years prior to the onset of puberty. A study by Rolland, Farnhill, and Griffiths (1997) showed that children as young as 8 years of age report high levels of body dissatisfaction and negative

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

In girls, puberty starts with breast development, which now often begins by age 10. But puberty's landmarks are the first ejaculation in boys, usually by about age 12, and the first menstrual period in girls, usually within a year of age 12. (p. 165)

The challenge to adjust to high school life usually corresponds to other moments of development in the adolescent’s life with such changes taking place which include puberty and related concern about body image, changes in social cognition, increased responsibility and decreased dependency on parents (Santrock, 2016). These changes were observed in my teen through certain reports such as how at 13 she was nervous about the transition to high school and worried that her friendships would change. She also experienced physical changes and concern about her body image as at age 14 she expressed being teased about having a flat chest and requesting new kinds of bras to remedy this. This body concern also came as she began gaining some weight during puberty making her refuse to wear certain clothes that she felt accentuated her weight problem. These reports show that this newfound concern about body image that was developed is so significant to adolescents that it tends to