Essay about Today's Adolescents: A Look at Sexual Development

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.

According to the case, the attractiveness of meeting others online instead of finding them in the real world has increased dramatically over the last two decades. The primary drivers

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

Sugar is delicious- it is a fast source of energy and sometimes cheaper than buying healthy foods. But Australian teenagers need to wake up to the fact that they are consuming too much of it, the consequences it is having on their lives.

Adolescence is both a social and cultural construct as well as biological one, it is the developmental period where one transition from being a child to adult and face biological, psychological, and social challenges. This challenging, and important time in between childhood and adulthood has caused a lot of interest in the psychological field and a number of theories have been developed in order to try and explain the different stages of development. One of the most significant models of psychosocial development was created by Erikson (1963) and the stage related to adolescents is known as the “Identity vs. Role-Diffusion”, where the one is in constant pursuit of a coherent sense of self during the teenage years. When the teenager is unable to put together aspects of themselves they experience role-diffusion. Later on Elkind (1967) introduced his theory of adolescent egocentrism, explaining the increase in preoccupation with oneself during the teenage years. Kohlberg (1969) quickly followed up with his theory of moral development, in order to examine how adolescents develop their ability to solve ethical dilemmas. Another challenge teenagers need to face is mental health. The psychological part of striving for independence, while still struggling with identity formation and having poor coping strategies can have serious consequences and lead to mental illnesses, such as depression which is a growing concern among youths. This essay will further examine to what extent

From peer pressure to alcohol and drug problems adolescents face many difficult decisions in today's world. Adolescent psychologists study these problems and the way that adolescents react to them. The reason why they are studied is so that people can have an insight in to the mind of an adolescent. Many of the psychologists use the knowledge that is gained, from their research, to write research papers and books. Many of these books and research papers are submitted to different psychological journals. These journals are then sent out all over the world to many different universities and libraries to be enjoyed and analyzed by all. The point of this paper

There are new strategies that have been developed to address teen sexual health issues. These issues may vary from puberty, sexual behavior and sex education, gay questioning to teen pregnancy. Puberty is the stage of human development when the body becomes capable of reproduction. Parental advice, peer, media and religiosity are some influences that will impact teens’ sexual behaviors and decisions. Children learn a lot more through peers than parents or from any other source. (Yarber) The media portrays a lot of nudity, sexually provocative language, and sexual passion. Kids spend about 4 hours a day watching television and they are exposed to a lot of sexual information that most likely is not accurate. Adolescents are engaging in sexual activity at younger ages and should be properly educated in contraception use to prevent STD transmission and pregnancy.

Sex education has been an ongoing debate for decades. In the early 1970’s, twenty states voted restricting sex education from the school curriculum, leaving the District of Columbia and only three states (Maryland, Kentucky, New Jersey), requiring schools to teach sex education. By the mid 1980’s, a deadly disease permitted through sexual intercourse was recognized; the fear of catching a disease sex education quickly became accepted. In 1986, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop felt sex education should start as early as third grade stating, ‘“There is now no doubt … that we need sex education in schools and that it [should] include information on heterosexual and homosexual relationships. The lives of our young people depend on our

Adolescence is a life transition typically beginning around age 10 or 12 and lasting until ages 18 or 22. There are many biopsychosocial changes that will take place during this life transition. This life transition is also known as the teen years, and are characterized by continued physical growth, and significant biological changes that signal the onset of men and women's sexual maturity, and the beginning of development into adulthood. Adolescents face important decision points concerning central life tasks such as childbearing, schooling, and career trajectories that have repercussions for health and development throughout their life span (Chase-Lansdale, et al., 2011). Stable and supportive family environments are essential for strengthening youth during this period of change (Chase-Lansdale, et al., 2011). Sexual maturity begins with puberty, this is characterized by rapid physical sexual growth and often accompanied by hormonal, emotional, and other changes. The primary sexual characteristics are the development of the male and female sexual organs, consisting of the prostate gland, the penis, the uterus,

From ages 8-9 children will increased body strength and co-ordination and have a quicker reaction time, they can ride a two-wheeled bike, skip more freely, enjoy active, energetic games and sports, and will enjoy participating in competitive sports. They will have more control over small muscles and therefore write and draw with greater skill, drawing with more details, and are beginning to join letters together in handwriting. Age 10 and 11 years will differ in physical maturity because girls experience puberty earlier generally as much as 2 years ahead of boys, they will start to have body’s proportions that are becoming like those of adults. During adolescence, young people go through many changes as they move from childhood into teenagers, between the ages of 11-16 young girl’s breasts will have started to develop and will have fully develop between 12-18 years old. A girl’s menstrual cycle may start as early as 10 years old and as late as 15. Pubic, armpit hair and underarm hair will grow like that of an adult. At 13-14 years, boys may notice that their testicles and scrotum are growing and by the age 16 or 17 the genitals are usually at their adult size. Armpit, pubic, leg, chest, and facial hair

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

Adolescence is a stage of maturation between childhood and adulthood that denotes the period from the beginning of puberty to maturity. However, many conflicting opinions are raised about weather such a stage of childhood is influenced by stress, depression, and suicide rate. Some people support the optimistic view that says that adolescence is not a period of storm and stress. Others, including me, support an opposite pessimistic view which characterizes adolescence as a period of stress and inner turmoil. Unfortunately, it has been recently proved that depression is a growing problem in today 's society and a major contributing factor for a multitude of adolescent problems. This is because , as research indicates, adolescent depression

Adolescence is a period of physical and psychological development from the onset of puberty to maturity. The adolescent is no longer a child, but they haven’t yet reached adulthood. Adolescence is considered people between the ages of 13 and 21. Puberty is the physical maturing that makes an individual capable of sexual reproduction. Puberty is important to adolescence because when a child hits puberty, that’s when the child is becoming an adolescent. Puberty is a big part of an adolescent’s life.

Homnack (2015) suggests that “online dating has changed the ways in which interpersonal relationships are developed and maintained” (p. 2); Online daters are granted access to use various platforms through which they can easily meet other singles alike to them. Holloway and Valentine (2003) highlight that “for marginalized people, the internet allows them to meet other people alike to themselves who may not be immediately available in their local social circles” (Pascoe, 2011, p. 9). According to Pascoe (2009a) “young adults especially are at the forefront of developing, using, reworking, and incorporating new media into their dating practices in ways that might be unknown, unfamiliar and sometimes scary to adults” (p. 117). Today, the main

Usually, the first theme that arises with the thought of adolescence is puberty, which can be a tumulus time. Puberty is a time of rapid physical maturation including hormonal and bodily changes. These changes include menarche, weight gains, height gains, and hormonal changes (McGraw Hill Education, 2015). Personally, puberty was a time of rapid growth; I went from kids sizes to adult sizes in the matter of a few months. As an early-maturing girl, I was confused and surprised when I started to notice the changes occurring to my body; I started to form breasts and my figure began to change drastically. I no longer had the body types of my friends who were boys. Nevertheless, these changes began to occur and I wasn’t prepared for one of the markers of “womanhood”; my first menstruation. I went through lectures with my mother and she gave me “talks”, but when it came to reality, I wasn’t prepared. However, with a little patience I have survived the most difficult parts of puberty but this isn’t the only thing adolescences have to deal with.