Adolescence: Know The Concepts

Adolescence is an individual’s transitional phase of growth, which happens between childhood and adulthood. Secondary sexual characteristics start developing at this phase of development. For evidence, beard and armpit hairs start growing in boys, and breasts and other sexual features develop in girls. Want to know how this happens? Keep reading this article to learn more.

Adolescence is the onset period that exists between puberty and adulthood. For both boys and girls, there is the appearance of some secondary sexual characteristics. Other than physical changes, there are social and cognitive changes too which happen in all teenagers.

Reaching the Age of Adolescence

A child reaches the stage of reproductive maturity when they are in their teenage phase of life. For girls, the typical age of reaching adolescence is between 8-13 years, whereas, for boys, the age range is generally from 9-14 years. The sole reason behind this is hormonal changes.

Before beginning with the hormonal mechanism regarding the attainment of adolescence in children, you should know the characteristics of youth in both boys and girls.

Adolescence in Boys

Some of the characteristics changes which happen in boys during adolescence period are given as follows:

• There is an enlargement of reproductive organs in boys, such as the scrotum and testes.
• Pubic hair starts growing in the genital areas, and eventually, with all these developmental characteristics, the penis begins growing.
• Body size increases as there is a massive development in the overall body dimensions of the human body. Enlargement is observed in the feet, arms, and legs too.
• Voice changes may usually happen as the overall voice becomes more profound.
• Ingrowth hair starts appearing at the groin and the face, even on the arms and legs.
• Teen boys start to think and analyse every situation that happens around them. They become more conscious of all the social and other changes around them.

Adolescence in Girls

Following are some of the changes which happen in girls during the adolescent period:

• An increase in hair growth happens, not only in the pubic area but also in the underarms, hands, and legs.
• Development of breasts occurs.
• Adolescent girls may experience sweating due to the formation of oil and sweat glands.
• Acne breakouts may occur in the form of pimples on the face and other body parts.
• Female body shape will tend to change. There is a change in overall body structure.
• The menstrual cycle or periods starts happening at this stage. This marks the initiation of the reproductive process in a girl’s life.
• Girls become more aware of what is happening with their bodies and why everything changes.
• Psychological changes such as anger and mood swings eventually start happening.

Adolescence Phenomenon

During the transition from childhood to adulthood, hormonal changes come into action. Sex hormones play a crucial role in regulating the activities of all teenagers. The male sex hormone is testosterone, whereas the female sex hormones are estrogen and progesterone. These hormones regulate teenagers’ overall cognitive and reproductive cycle balances, which keep developing over the years.

Your outlook change will affect how you feel sexually attracted to boys or girls. Teen hormones naturally increase the resemblance to feeling drawn toward each other. Learning how to socialise at this stage is very important.

The trigger for adolescent boys and girls is the production of ‘gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from a part of the brain named the hypothalamus. This hormone stimulates the pituitary gland to release two hormones: follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH).

Adolescence: Important Questions

Now that you have got the basic concepts on adolescence, you can practice some of the important basic questions on adolescence concepts that are given:

• What are hormones?
• Define puberty and adolescence.
• How long is a woman’s reproductive life lasts?
• Which gland is called master gland?
• What is the puberty age in boys and girls?
• What are secondary sexual characters?
• Name some secondary sexual characters in boys and girls?
• Explain in brief the development of sex organs in male and female.
• What are sex hormones? How do they work in the human body?

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