Puberty

Definition

Puberty is the period of human development during which physical growth and sexual maturity occurs.

Description

The word puberty is derived from the Latin pubertas, which means adulthood. Puberty is initiated by hormonal changes triggered by a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which stimulates the pituitary gland, which in turn activates other glands as well. These changes begin about a year before any of their results are visible. Both the male reproductive hormone testosterone and female hormone estrogen are present in children of both sexes. However, their balance changes at puberty, with girls producing relatively more estrogen and boys producing more testosterone.

Beginning as early as age eight in girls—and two years later, on average, in boys—the hypothalamus signals hormonal change that stimulates the pituitary. In turn, the pituitary releases its own hormones called gonadotrophins that stimulate the gonads and adrenals. From these glands come a flood of sex hormones—androgen and testosterone in the male, estrogen and progestin in the female—that regulate the growth and function of the sex organs. It is interesting to note that the gonadotrophins are the same for males and females, but the sex hormones they induce are different.

The experience of puberty is new and unusual for both boys and girls. It is not something that happens overnight, but rather it is a process that occurs in stages and at different ages for different people. It is perfectly normal, for example, for one person to have already started developing while one's best friend of the same age has not. The age at which puberty begins can vary widely between individuals. Timing of onset is affected by genetic factors, body mass, nutritional state, and general health.

School age

The average age for first signs of breast development in girls is about 10.5 years, with menstruation and fertility following about two years later. Average age for first signs of testicle enlargement in boys is 11.5 years. Puberty may not begin until age 16 in boys and continue in a random fashion beyond age 20. In contrast to puberty, adolescence is more a social/cultural term that refers to the interval between childhood and adulthood. The duration of puberty, from time of onset to completion, varies less between children than does the age of onset. Duration of puberty in girls from onset of breast development to cessation of growth is roughly five years. Duration of puberty in boys from first testicle enlargement to cessation of growth is about six years.

Puberty has been divided into five Sexual Maturity Rating (SMR) stages by two doctors, W. Marshall and J. M. Tanner. These ratings are often referred to as Tanner Stages one through five. Staging is based on pubic hair growth, on genital development, and female breast development. Staging helps determine whether development is normal for a given age. Both sexes also grow armpit hair and develop pimples. Males develop muscle mass, a deeper voice, and facial hair. Females redistribute body fat. Along with the maturing of the sex organs, there is a pronounced growth spurt averaging three to four inches (8–10 centimeters) and culminating in full adult stature. Puberty can be early or delayed.

PUBERTY STAGES IN GIRLS

• Stage One (approximately between the ages of eight and eleven): The ovaries enlarge and hormone production starts, but external development is not yet visible.
• Stage Two (approximately between the ages of eight and fourteen): The first external sign of puberty is usually breast development. At first breast buds develop. The nipples will be tender and elevated. The area around the nipple (the aureole) will increase in size. The first stage of pubic hair may also be present at this time. It may be coarse and curly or fine and straight. Height and weight increase at this time. The body gets rounder and curvier.
• Stage Three (approximately between the ages of nine and 15): Breast growth continues and pubic hair gets coarser and darker. During this stage, whitish discharge from the vagina may be present. For some girls, this is the time that the first menstrual period begins.
• Stage Four (approximately from ages 10 to 16): Some girls notice that their aureoles get even darker and separate into a little mound rising above the rest of the breast. Pubic hair may begin to have a more adult triangular pattern of growth. If it did not happen in Stage Three, menarche (first menstruation) should start now. Ovulation may start now, too. But it will not necessarily occur on a regular basis. (It is possible to have regular periods even if ovulation does not occur every month.)
• Stage Five (approximately between ages 12 and 19): This is the final stage of development. Full height is reached, and young women are ovulating regularly. Pubic hair is filled in, and the breasts are developed fully for the body.

PUBERTY STAGES IN BOYS

• Stage One (approximately between ages nine and 12): No visible signs of development occur, but, internally, male hormones become a lot more active. Sometimes a growth spurt begins at this time.
• Stage Two (approximately between ages nine to 15): Height increases and the shape of the body changes. Muscle tissue and fat develop at this time. The aureole, the dark skin around the nipple, darkens and increases in size. The testicles and scrotum grow, but the penis probably does not. A little bit of pubic hair begins to grow at the base of the penis.
• Stage Three (approximately between ages 11 and 16): The penis starts to grow during this stage. It tends to grow in length rather than width. Pubic hair is getting darker and coarser and spreading to where the legs meet the torso. Also, boys continue to grow in height, and even their faces begin to appear more mature. The shoulders broaden, making the hips look smaller. Muscle tissue increases and the voice starts to change and deepen. Finally, facial hair begins to develop on the upper lip.
• Stage Four (approximately 11 to 17): At this time, the penis starts to grow in width, too. The testicles and scrotum also continue to grow. Hair may begin to grow on the anus. The texture of the penis becomes more adult-looking. Underarm and facial hair increases as well. Skin gets oilier, and the voice continues to deepen.
• Stage Five (approximately 14 to 18): Boys reach their full adult height. Pubic hair and the genitals look like an adult man's do. At this point, too, shaving is a necessity. Some young men continue to grow past this point, even into their twenties.

Common problems

When puberty occurs outside the age limits considered normal parents may be prompted to search for the cause. As health and nutrition have improved over the past few generations, there has been a gradual decrease in the average age for the onset of puberty. These causes of early or late puberty may include the following:

• Excess hormone stimulation is the cause for early puberty. It can come from the brain in the form of gonadotrophins or from the gonads and adrenals. Functioning tumors may cause overproduction of sex hormones. Brain overproduction of factors promoting sex hormone production can also be the result of brain infections or injury.
• Likewise, delayed puberty is due to insufficient hormone. If the pituitary output is inadequate, so will be the output from the gonads and adrenals. By contrast, a normal pituitary overproduces if it senses there are not enough hormones in the circulation.
• There are several congenital disorders called polyglandular deficiency syndromes that include failure of hormone output. Children with these syndromes do not experience normal puberty, but it may be induced by giving them hormones at the proper time.
• Finally, there are in females abnormalities in hormone production that produce male characteristics, so called virilizing syndromes. Should one of these appear during adolescence, it will disturb the normal progress of puberty. Notice that virilizing requires abnormal hormones in the female, while feminizing results from absent hormones in the male. Each embryo starts out life as female. Male hormones transform it if they are present.

Delayed or early puberty requires measurement of the several hormones involved to determine which are lacking or which are in excess. There are blood tests for each one. If a tumor is suspected, imaging of the suspect organ needs to be done with x rays, computed tomography scans (CT scans), or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Puberty is a period of great stress, both physically and emotionally. The psychological changes and challenges of puberty are made infinitely greater if its timing is off.

In early puberty, the offending gland or tumor may require surgical attention, although there are several drugs as of 2004 that counteract hormone effects. If delayed, puberty can be stimulated with the correct hormones. Treatment should not be delayed because necessary bone growth is also affected.

Early puberty often begins before age eight in girls, triggering the development of breasts and hair under the arms and in the genital region. The onset of ovulation and menstruation also may occur. In boys, the condition triggers the development of a large penis and testicles, with spontaneous erections and the production of sperm. Hair grows on the face, under arms, and in the pubic area, and acne may become a problem.

Several studies indicate an increase in incidences of early puberty and other forms of early sexual development in the United States. Sexual development in children seven years of age and younger should be evaluated by a physician. In some cases, early sexual development can be caused by a tumor or other pathological conditions. Properly administered hormones can restore the normal growth pattern.

Parental concerns

Most experts suggest that parents begin short and casual discussions about the body changes that occur in puberty with their children by the age of seven or eight. Offering the child reading materials about puberty can impart information to the young person without the awkwardness that may characterize the parent-child conversations. Parents can then offer their children opportunities to ask questions or to discuss any aspects of puberty and sexuality that may arise from their reading.

It is also a good idea for parents to talk to their children about proper hygiene at the onset and during puberty. While good hygiene is important for everyone at any age, it can require greater care at the onset of puberty. Hormones produced by the maturing body bring about physical changes that require greater attention when it comes to hygiene. For a young girl or boy, this means taking more time to clean the body, especially the sexual organs, to treat acne, use mouthwash for bad breath, and deodorant for stronger body odor.

When a boy or girl begins to go through puberty, the body produces more perspiration because sweat glands, some of which are located near the underarms, become more active. More perspiration means a different type of body odor, one that is stronger and similar to an adult's. Daily bathing and showering are enough to control body odor, along with deodorants and antiperspirants.

Boys should be instructed to wash their genitals every day. This includes washing the penis, the scrotum that holds the testicles, the anus, and pubic hair with water and mild soap. Uncircumcised boys need to be instructed that the foreskin should be pulled down daily to expose the tip of the penis, which should then be washed with mild soap and water.

In girls, it is perfectly natural to have a slight sweet smell from the vagina that is inoffensive. A strong, foul odor indicates a possible infection. With treatment, the infection goes away and so does the strong odor. Vaginal discharge is a necessary part of the body's regular functioning. Normal discharge, usually clear to white, is part of the body's self-cleaning process. As discharge leaves the body, it takes bacteria with it, which helps prevent vaginal infections. Parents should stress that girls clean the vaginal area with a mild soap and water

on a regular basis to help control bacteria growth and limit infections.

When to call the doctor

Parents should consult a pediatrician or physician when their child shows signs of either early or delayed puberty.

KEY TERMS

Adrenal gland —A small gland located above the kidney (one on each side) that secretes various hormones.

Circumcision —A surgical procedure, usually with religious or cultural significance, where the prepuce or skin covering the tip of the penis on a boy, or the clitoris on a girl, is cut away.

Estrogen —Female hormone produced mainly by the ovaries and released by the follicles as they mature. Responsible for female sexual characteristics, estrogen stimulates and triggers a response from at least 300 tissues. After menopause, the production of the hormone gradually stops.

Estrus —A regular period of sexual excitement in females.

Gonadotrophin —Hormones that stimulate the ovary and testicles.

Gonads —Organs that produce gametes (eggs or sperm), i.e., the ovaries and testes.

Hypothalamus —A part of the forebrain that controls heartbeat, body temperature, thirst, hunger, body temperature and pressure, blood sugar levels, and other functions.

Menstruation —The periodic discharge from the vagina of blood and tissues from a nonpregnant uterus.

Pituitary gland —The most important of the endocrine glands (glands that release hormones directly into the bloodstream), the pituitary is located at the base of the brain. Sometimes referred to as the "master gland," it regulates and controls the activities of other endocrine glands and many body processes including growth and reproductive function. Also called the hypophysis.

Testosterone —Male hormone produced by the testes and (in small amounts) in the ovaries. Testosterone is responsible for some masculine secondary sex characteristics such as growth of body hair and deepening voice. It also is sometimes given as part of hormone replacement therapy to women whose ovaries have been removed.

Virilizing syndromes —Abnormalities in female hormone production that produce male characteristics.

Resources

BOOKS

Bailey, Jacqui, and Jan McCafferty. Sex, Puberty, and All that Stuff. Hauppauge, NY: Barrons Educational Series, 2004.

Madaras, Lynda, et al.What's Happening to My Body? Book for Boys. New York: Newmarket Press, 2000.

——. What's Happening to My Body? Book for Girls. New York: Newmarket Press, 2000.

McCave, Marta. Puberty's Wild Ride. Philadelphia: Family Planning Council, 2004.

PERIODICALS

Brunk, Doug, "Navigating Tx [Treatment] of Boys on the Brink of Puberty." Pediatric News (October 2001): 31.

Herman-Giddens, Marcia E., et al. "Navigating the Recent Articles on Girls' Puberty in Pediatrics: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go from Here?" Pediatrics (April 2004): 911–17.

"New Study Identifies Gene Signaling Puberty." Genomics & Genetics Weekly (November 14, 2003): 33.

Ramsayer, K. "Pesticide May Hinder Development in Boys." Science News (December 13, 2003): 372–73.

Wang, Youfa. "Is Obesity Associated with Early Sexual Maturation? A Comparison of the Association in American Boys Versus Girls." Pediatrics (November 2002): 903–10.

Wellbery, Caroline. "Cut-Off Age for Precocious Puberty Is Too Young." American Family Physician (May 1, 2003): 2001.

ORGANIZATIONS

American Academy of Pediatrics. 141 Northwest Point Blvd., Elk Grove Village, IL 60007. Web site: <www.aao.org>.

Precocious Puberty Support Network. c/o MAGIC Foundation, 6645 W. North Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302. Web site: <www.magicfoundation.org>.

WEB SITES

"Female Puberty." Available online at <www.teenpuberty.com/index.php?section=female> (accessed October 29, 2004).

"Male Puberty." Available online at <www.teenpuberty.com/index.php?section=male> (accessed October 29, 2004).

"Puberty and Adolescence." National Institutes of Health. Available online at <www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001950.htm> (accessed October 29, 2004).

J. Ricker Polsdorfer, MD Ken R. Wells

Puberty

Puberty is the experience of sexual maturation for girls and boys; it encompasses certain hormonal, physical, and physiological

changes that manifest themselves in the lives of young people in all times and places. During puberty, boys and girls experience a rise in hormone levels and undergo an increase in height, known as the growth spurt. The secondary sex characteristics appear and boys and girls develop the potential for reproduction. Within these broad parameters, however, the way the biological process of puberty has been experienced by young people has varied considerably across cultures and historical time periods. One of the most notable changes in the experience of puberty in industrialized countries has been the decline in the average age of menarche, or first menstruation, due to improvements in health care and nutrition. Along with changes in the biological process itself, puberty has been conceptualized differently in different times and places. Such varying views of and expectations for puberty have significantly influenced the ways young people have experienced the process of sexual maturation.

In the West, meanings and experiences of puberty have taken shape in relationship to meanings and experiences of the stage of life known as adolescence and youth. Ancient and medieval views of puberty recognized it as a period of heightened sexual interest, which was associated both with personal vitality and social benefit and, particularly under the rising influence of Christianity, with immorality and social danger. In the turbulent social climate of sixteenth and seventeenth-century England, Puritan moral theologians concerned with the threat posed to the social order by disgruntled urban apprentices decisively linked the sensuality of male youth with sin, temptation, and disruptive behavior and called upon the family, the school, and the church to act as disciplining agents. Colonial New Englanders, in contrast, were more confident about the hold their orderly, hierarchical, and patriarchal society had over youth, and so displayed much less anxiety about puberty, at least during the first generations of settlement. Beginning at the end of the seventeenth century, a confluence of demographic and economic changes, most notably population growth, geographical mobility, and commercial development, began to undermine the stability of many New England families and towns. Some, but not all, of the adult controls over the lives of youth were loosened. The result was a rising conflict in age relations and a new attention by religious authorities to the potentially perilous manifestations of youthful sexuality.

By the middle of the eighteenth century, however, the emphasis on authoritatively controlling youth during their period of sexual maturation was supplemented by Enlightenment views that sanctioned some degree of social and sexual independence, for boys in particular. Ideally, boys would learn to control their powerful passions from within and emerge from their youth as autonomous individuals. Not invested with the same capacity for self-determination, girls were increasingly regarded as pure and passionless, and any expression of female sexual desire was deemed deviant. At the same time, a Romantic sensibility came to associate the volatility of puberty less with danger and destruction than with vigor, creativity, and the awakening of love and compassion. The seminal text here was Jean-JacquesRousseau's Émile (1762), which posited that the difficulties puberty seemed to pose were more the artifact of society than nature and were best managed by an educational regimen that allowed for the gradual development of the body, mind, and heart.

During the nineteenth century, scientific theories dominated discussions about puberty, establishing it as the primary determinant of sexual difference, as well as a marker of race and class hierarchy. Physicians and evolutionary theorists maintained that male and female development were largely similar during childhood. The biological changes that occurred with the maturation of the reproductive organs established the ineradicable differences between male and female bodies, minds, behaviors, and social roles and responsibilities. Maintaining such differences among men and women of the white middle class was thought to be essential to preserve social order and ensure the ongoing progress of Western civilization. With the exception of anxieties about the physically and morally depleting effects of masturbation, male puberty was not discussed by scientific authorities with any great specificity. According to the developmental theory of this period, nature intended the growth of the white middle-class male to proceed along a gradual, steady course and endowed such "civilized" boys with the capability of managing the benignly vitalizing physical changes wrought by the onset of puberty. The "civilized" girl, in contrast, was described in medical and evolutionary discourse as being rendered completely vulnerable and passive in the face of the much more volatile, complex, and consequential changes her body experienced during the process of sexual maturation. Female puberty indicated not the onset of sexual desire, but the future capacity for maternity. Any expenditure by the girl of physical, mental, or emotional energy was thought to further compromise an already taxing process, thereby threatening her health, her mental stability, and her ability to fulfill her essential function as reproducer of the "civilized" white race later in her life. While not all doctors regarded female puberty as inherently dangerous, many prominent physicians advanced such a notion as the primary justification for limiting girls' activities during their youth, most especially their access to institutions of higher education, to which women aspired by the second half of the nineteenth century.

Nineteenth-century scientific discourse, under the influence of an evolutionary schema applied to social science, also attended to the timing of puberty as evidence for the existence of natural gender, racial, and class hierarchies. It was widely noted that the white middle-class girl grew more rapidly and reached puberty earlier than her "civilized" brother. Once her body stopped growing, the explanation went, her intellectual and moral development ceased as well, thereby determining her inferior status in relation to the more slowly, but ultimately more fully, maturing boy. Likewise, girls and boys who lived in or were descended from peoples living in tropical regions of the world or who were members of the working class were thought to complete the process of pubertal growth sooner than their "civilized" counterparts (due to the effects of warm climates and a greater tendency to sexual licentiousness), and so were biologically incapable of advancing to the highest stages of evolutionary development. Even so, while all girls and nonwhite and lower-class boys were deemed naturally precocious, and hence developmentally inferior to "civilized" boys, the sexual precocity of the "civilized" girl was restricted, since it was her purity that served as the hallmark of her racial and class superiority. Advice to white middle-class parents abounded about protecting their girls from a whole range of dangerous activities that could excite the sexual passions, including masturbation, reading novels, eating meat or sweets, and, of course, engaging in any sort of physical encounter with men. At the end of the century, campaigns to end the white slave trade and raise the age of consent emerged in further defense of female purity. The sexual precocity of nonwhite and working-class girls was more likely to be expected, though no more tolerated, and the late nineteenth century also saw the foundation of numerous organizations and institutions intending to reform and/or punish the transgressive sexual behaviors of female youth.

In 1904 the pioneering developmental psychologist G. Stanley Hall published his seminal text Adolescence, which reaffirmed puberty as the originator of sexual differentiation, while also significantly modifying some of the gendered assumptions about the process of sexual maturation. Undermining earlier claims as to the steadiness of male growth, Hall maintained that the biological changes that occurred at puberty universally gave rise to "storm and stress" in the developing adolescent, rendering boys and girls alike somatically vulnerable, emotionally volatile, and socially awkward. Conversely, he enthused about the pubertal awakening of sexual desire in girls as well as boys. However, Hall sanctioned female desire only in so far as it was productive of male pleasure and reserved most of his zealous characterization of the sex instinct for the role it played in furthering the noble purpose of racial regeneration. Moreover, despite his recognition of certain shared qualities of the pubertal experience, Hall depicted the girl as growing into her biological and emotional self at puberty, with the sensibilities and functions then established determining her personality and role for the rest of her life. For his part, the boy's capacity for autonomy and rationality would ultimately enable him to out-grow the physical and psychological vulnerabilities wrought by puberty, so that he could assume his rightful position of leadership in the ongoing quest for social progress.

In the twentieth century, puberty was reinterpreted through the lenses of several new approaches to the study of human development. Psychoanalytic theory pushed the initial experience of sexual desire and the onset of sexual difference back from puberty to infancy and the Oedipal complex of early childhood, respectively. While Sigmund Freud deemed the prepubertal stages of psychosexual development to be the most consequential for the health of the personality, he also retained earlier notions of the diminished sexual and psychological capacity of girls. His daughter, psychoanalyst Anna Freud, reasserted the significance of puberty, arguing that the emergence of the genital drive gave rise to significant psychological conflicts during adolescence. Challenging the biological determinism that had characterized much of the theorizing about puberty and adolescence, cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead's widely read Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) made use of cross-cultural comparison to assert that the difficulties of adolescence were not the result of biological puberty, but of the complex demands placed on youth by modern civilization. Mead also emphasized that the process of sexual maturation did not limit the development of the Western girl in any way. Beginning in the 1920s, the rise of the science of endocrinology provided a new biological framework for conceptualizing puberty. However, in seeking to understand the role of the hormones in shaping pubertal development, researchers increasingly attended to the interaction between biological and social factors in shaping the psychology and behavior of the adolescent, as well as the causes and manifestations of sexual difference. In addition to scientific authority, puberty in the twentieth century was also mediated by the ascendancy of the consumer culture. For girls, especially, the buying of sanitary products, bras, and other beauty items encouraging conformity to dominant cultural standards of femininity have shaped, without ever fully determining, the meaning and experience of the process of sexual maturation.

See also: Adolescent Medicine; Age and Development; Boyhood; Child Development, History of the Concept of; Girl-hood.

bibliography

Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. 1997. The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls. New York: Random House.

Freud, Anna. 1969. "Adolescence as a Developmental Disturbance." In Adolescence, ed. G. Caplan and S. Lebovici. New York: Basic Books.

Freud, Sigmund. 1954. Collected Works, Standard Edition. London: Hogarth Press.

Hall, G. Stanley. 1904. Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education, 2 vols. New York: Appleton.

Mead, Margaret. 1928. Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilization. New York: William Morrow and Company.

Prescott, Heather Munro. 1998. A Doctor of Their Own: The History of Adolescent Medicine. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Rotundo, E. Anthony. 1993. American Manhood: Transformations in Masculinity from the Revolution to the Modern Era. New York: Basic Books.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. 1979 [1762]. Émile or On Education. Trans. Alan Bloom. New York: Basic Books.

Russett, Cynthia Eagle. 1989. Sexual Science: The Victorian Construction of Womanhood. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Tanner, J. M. 1981. A History of the Study of Human Growth. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Crista DeLuzio

Puberty

The process of physical growth and sexual maturation that signals the end of childhood and the advent of adolescence. (Also, the period during which this process takes place.)

The word puberty is derived from the Latin pubertas, which means adulthood. Puberty is initiated by hormonal changes triggered by a part of the brain called the hypothalamus , which stimulates the pituitary gland, which in turn activates other glands as well. These changes begin about a year before any of their results are visible. Both the male reproductive hormone testosterone and female hormone estrogen are present in children of both sexes. However, their balance changes at puberty, with girls producing relatively more estrogen and boys producing more testosterone.

Most experts suggest that parents begin short and casual discussions about puberty with their children by the age of seven or eight. Offering the child reading materials about puberty can impart information to the young person without the awkwardness that may characterize the parent-child conversations. Parents can then offer their children opportunities to ask questions or to discuss any aspects of puberty and sexuality that may arise from their reading.

The first obvious sign of puberty is a growth spurt that typically occurs in girls between the ages of 10 and 14 and in boys between 12 and 16. Between these ages both sexes grow about nine inches. The average girl gains about 38 pounds, and the average boy gains about42. One reason for the awkwardness of adolescence is the fact that this growth spurt proceeds at different rates in different parts of the body. Hands and feet grow faster than arms and legs, which, in turn, lengthen before the torso does, all of which create the impression of gawkiness common to many teenagers. In addition, there can be temporary unevenness of growth on the two sides of the body, and even facial development is disproportionate, as the nose, lips, and ears grow before the head attains its full adult size. The growth spurt at puberty is not solely an external one. Various internal organs increase significantly in size, in some cases with observable consequences. Increases in heart and lung size and in the total volume of blood give adolescents increased strength and endurance for athletics and for recreational activities such as dancing. (During puberty, the heart doubles in size.) Teenagers' ravenous appetites are related to the increased capacity of the digestive system, and the decrease in respiratory problems (including asthma) is associated with the fact that the lymphoid system, which includes the tonsils and adenoids, actually shrinks in adolescence. Yet another change, the increase in secretions from the sebaceous glands, triggered by the growth hormone androgen, is responsible for acne, which affects about 75% of teenagers. The excess oil from these glands clogs pores, and they become inflamed, causing the reddening and swelling of acne.

Following the beginning of the growth spurt, the sexual organs begin to mature and secondary sex characteristics appear. In girls, the uterus and vagina become larger, and the lining of the vagina thickens. The first visible sign of sexual maturation is often the appearance of a small amount of colorless pubic hair shortly after the growth spurt begins. Over the next three years, the pubic hair becomes thicker, darker, coarser, and curlier and spreads to cover a larger area. Hair also develops under the arms, on the arms and legs (sufficiently so that most girls start shaving), and, to a slight degree, on the face. Around the age of 10 or 11, "breast buds," the first sign of breast development, appear. Full breast development takes about three or four years and is generally not complete until puberty is almost over. The single most dramatic sign of sexual maturation in girls is menarche, the onset of menstruation, which usually occurs after a girl's growth rate has peaked. In virtually all cases it occurs between the ages of 10 and 16, with the average age in the United States being 12.8 years. The first menstrual periods are usually anovulatory, meaning that they happen without ovulation. Periods remain irregular for a while, and for at

HORMONE SURGE TRIGGERS PUBERTY

A point in child development known as adrenarche—the beginning of adrenal androgen activity—may represent the beginning of the process of puberty. Two University of Chicago researchers, Dr. Martha K. McClintock and Dr. Gilbert Herdt, believe that puberty is triggered by dihydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a hormone produced by the adrenal glands. According to data the two gathered from three separate studies, DHEA levels begin to increase at around the age of six and reach a critical level around age ten. The researchers characterize these hormonal changes as triggering a number of cognitive, emotional, and social changes in around fourth or fifth grade. Students in these grades begin to engage in boy-girl teasing, exhibit a significant increase in abstract reasoning skills, and experience vulnerability to embarrassment. The three studies also gathered data on subjects' (who were mostly in their mid 30s) first recollected feelings of sexual attraction. The mean age reported by the subjects was around 10 or 11. This finding has led the researchers to postulate that sexual development moves along a continuum, beginning with attraction, progressing to desire, and leading to the willingness and readiness to act on the desire. McClintock, quoted in the New York Times, noted: "Our culture regards middle childhood as a time of hormonal quiescence. Freud called it 'latency.' But actually a great deal of activity is going on."

least a year after menarche young women's fertility levels are very low, and they are prone to spontaneous abortions if they do conceive.

In boys, as in girls, the first outward sign of sexual maturation is often light-colored pubic hair around the time the growth spurt begins. The testes and scrotum begin to grow, and the scrotum darkens, thickens, and becomes pendulous. About a year after the testes begin to increase in size, the penis lengthens and widens, taking several years to reach its full size. Sperm production increases, and ejaculations—the male counterpart to menarche in girls—begin, occurring through nocturnal emission, masturbation, or sexual intercourse. (It takes from one to three years until ejaculations contain enough sperm for a boy to be really fertile.) Boys' pubic hair, like that of girls, gradually becomes thicker and curlier and covers a wider area, and facial hair appears, first in the mustache area above the upper lip and later at the sides of the face and on the chin. As a boy's larynx grows and the vocal cords lengthen, his voice drops (roughly an octave in pitch) and changes in quality. Although girls' voices also become lower, the change is more dramatic (and less controlled) in boys, whose voices occasionally break, producing an embarrassing high-pitched squeak.

The sequence and age range of the developmental changes associated with puberty can vary widely. Although most children begin puberty between the ages of 10 and 12, it can start at any age from 8 to 16. The most obvious determining factor is gender; on average, puberty arrives earlier for girls than boys. Heredity also appears to play an important role. Compared to an overall age range of nine to 18 for menarche, the age difference for sisters averages only 13 months and for identical twins , less than three months. Body weight is a factor as well: puberty often begins earlier in heavier children of both sexes and later in thinner ones. The onset of menstruation, in particular, appears to be related to amounts of body fat. Girls with little body fat, especially athletes, often start menstruating at a later-than-average age. Over the past 100 years, puberty has tended to begin increasingly early in both sexes (a phenomenon called the secular trend ). In 1997, the results of a study led by Dr. Marcia E. Herman-Giddens of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health provided evidence that the average age of menarche was declining. Instead of occurring between the ages of 12 and 14, as is typical in the late 1990s, girls' first menstrual periods commonly appeared between the ages of 15 and 17 in the 19th century. Puberty in boys usually didn't begin until the ages of 15 or 16 (in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, boy sopranos in their mid-to-late teens still sang in church choirs). Explanations for this pattern have ranged from evolution to better health, especially as a consequence of improved nutrition.

An important aspect of puberty is the development of body image . Teenagers are often critical of their bodies during this period, either because they feel they are maturing too early or too late, or because they fail to match the stereotyped ideals of attractiveness for their sex (i.e., tall and muscular for men, fashionably thin for women). Girls who mature early have a hard time initially because they feel self-conscious and isolated, but they adjust well and even gain in status once their peers begin to catch up. Some research even suggests that girls who mature early may ultimately be better off than those who mature late because the turmoil of their early teenage years helps them develop coping skills that stand them in good stead later on. For boys, the relative positions of early and late maturers is reversed. Those who are already tall and athletic in junior high school feel better about themselves than those who remain short and skinny. Researchers have linked late physical maturation in boys to the development

of both positive personalitytraits (humor , perceptiveness, flexibility, creativity , and leadership skills) and negative ones (restlessness and lack of poise). In most cases, adolescents gradually become more accepting of their bodies in the years following junior high school.

Further Reading

Bell, Alison, and Lisa Rooney. Your Body Yourself: A Guide to Your Changing Body. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1993.

Bourgeois, Paulette, and Martin Wolfish. Changes in You and Me: A Book About Puberty, Mostly for Boys. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1994.

Children's Television Workshop. What Kids Want to Know About Sex and Growing Up. Los Angeles, CA: Pacific Arts Video Publishing, 1992. (One 60-minute videocassette and one 20-page parent's guide.)

Chirinian, Alain. Boys'Puberty: An Illustrated Manual for Parents and Sons. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 1989.

Feldman, Shirley, and Glen R. Elliott, eds. At the Threshold: The Developing Adolescent. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990.

Gilbert, Susan. "Early Puberty Onset Seems Prevalent." New York Times 146, April 9, 1997, p. B12.

Jukes, Mavis. It's a Girl Thing: How to Stay Healthy, Safe, and In Charge. New York: A. Knopf, 1996.

Marano, Hara Estroff. "Puberty May Start at 6 as Hormones Surge." New York Times 146, July 1, 1997, p. B9+.

Nathanson, Laura. "Prepuberty Coaching." Parents Magazine 72 (March 1997): pp. 110+.

——. Changes in You and Me: A Book About Puberty, Mostly for Girls. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1994.

Steinberg, Laurence, and Ann Levine. You and Your Adolescent: A Parent's Guide for Ages 10-20. New York: Harper & Row, 1990.

What's Happening to Me? A Guide to Puberty. Los Angeles, CA: LCA, 1986. (Video recording)

PUBERTY

Puberty was originally defined anatomically and physiologically as the appearance of secondary signs of sexual maturation that mark the beginning of the adolescent process which will put an end to the period of childhood that had been prolonged by the period of latency. The concepts of puberty and adolescence have been increasingly considered as belonging to the field of psychoanalysis only progressively.

Of course the chapter on the "Transformations of Puberty" in Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905d) is the essential text by Freud on this subject, but to ascertain the reason for the key place this stage assumes in metapsychological development, it is necessary to go back to the early hypotheses on trauma. The seduction theory formulated in the Studies on Hysteria (1895d) assumed in effect two distinct scenes separated by puberty. It is this breakthrough from the presexual (albeit already oriented by the phallus to the genital) which gives both chronological and logical meaning to the twin ideas of latency and deferred action.

For Freud therefore, above and beyond the impact it has on the body and the psychological implications of this, puberty is something that operates : initially as a real trauma, then later as a logical operand in the seduction-fantasy, where it served to delineate boundaries. That being said, the 1905 essay on puberty and all the preceding work was to be enriched by later discoveries, such as the 1914 theory of narcissism and, in 1924, the second topology and the death drive hypothesis.

What is at stake in puberty is clear from the outset: "With the arrival of puberty, changes set in which are destined to give infantile sexual life its final, normal shape. The sexual instinct has hitherto been predominantly auto-erotic; it now finds a sexual object" (1905d, p. 206). Freud then raises five questions, all of which are still being asked, on the nature of puberty: First of all, how is the erotic destiny of each person, perversion aside, determined by the way in which the pregential drives are simultaneously placed in submission to and in the service of genitality, which is the sign of normality? Secondly, what is the role, necessary but not sufficient, of the "chemical" factor in causing sexual tension and pleasure, given that even neurosis "greatly resembles" a state of intoxication and want? Thirdly, according to the theory of narcissism how will ego libido and object libido be fused in this moment of anticipated tension and complementarity between the currents of love and sex? Fourthly, how is, in a final renunciation of bisexuality, the man's "more logical" development going to then be differentiated from the "involution" of the young woman who willingly rejoins her initial, oral sexual orientations at the same time as she accedes to genitality? Fifth and finally, in what way is the new sexual object, a semblance of the Other sex, at once both new and rediscovered on the basis of the primal objects, the ancestors of the Other sex? In his conclusion devoted to the risks associated with homosexual inversion occasioned by both familial and social milieus, Freud alerts us to the fact that this accession to a sexual relationship which assumes responsibility for the difference between the sexes, does not occur automatically.

For a long time after Freud puberty remained a secondary preoccupation for psychoanalysts. Instead, under the influence of child analysts and fueled in particular by the debates between Anna Freud and Melanie Klein, interest tended to focus on the relationship between earliest infancy and the oedipal period, with adolescence being considered as little more than the outcome of precocious determinants. On the other hand in the field of psychopathology, the side of adolescence, dissociated from puberty, concerned with the trials of socialization and its psycho-pathological failures, became the privileged focus of study in the texts on this period (Siegfried Bernfeld, August Aichhorn).

Only recently, and especially in Great Britain and France, has interest been renewed in puberty as distinct from the ensemble of adolescent processes, and designated as such as being their origin. Donald Winnicott was the first to recall that it is sexual maturation, not only social exigencies, which reactivate oedipal difficulties, giving rise to murderous and incestuous feelings which were all too easily repressed in childhood when they were unrealizable, and calling for a second oedipal working-through, subject to new ups and downs. Moses Laufer has elaborated on this approach by explicating the more-or-less pathological crises of adolescence using the concept of breakdown, reworked from Winnicott, but which is for Laufer a developmental fracture in the integration of the body image which, following puberty, needs to then incorporate the genital organs and allow for a new compromise between masturbatory fantasy and the demands of the superego. With this Philippe Gutton was able to produce the concept of the "pubertal, which is to the psyche what puberty is to the body." Although he left room for debate, Gutton distinguished distinctly and chronologically between the category of feelings that refashion the aim of the drive from the phallic to the genital and are oriented towards a new, complementary, part object—and the adolescens process, which is a reconstruction of referents and ideals that this genital identity imposes.

On the Lacanian side, which has proved more reticent with respect to the psychogenetic approach, the texts are few and far between: For Françoise Dolto, puberty is a third "moment of synthesis" (after the mirror stage and the Oedipus complex), in the construction of an unconscious body image. Jean-Jacques Rassial views puberty in its somatic, but also psychic aspects, as the Real blow that necessitates an Imaginary reconstruction and a new Symbolic foundation, insofar as this is an adolescent function.

The production of the concept of puberty points toward a certain number of theoretical modifications: First off (and this is borne out by clinical experience), the topological status of puberty, be it individual or social, and which affects not only the ego but also the id and the superego, affirms the autonomy of the psychical from the somatic and the social, because psychic puberty does not always occur at the same time as these two other puberties. Secondly, from a dynamic point of view, Freudian precepts hold that the conflicts taking place during this time are not only the repetition of earlier conflicts, and therefore all psychogenesis, and particularly the pre-pubertal function of the latency period, needs to be rethought. Thirdly, the economic function of the phallus, between drive and representation, is put into question by its separation during this period from the genital that cannot, after all, be reduced to just its imaginary employment.

As is already apparent in Freud's texts, the transformations of puberty are not a simple issue of psychogenetics, but raise the question of the function of sexuality as a whole. In other words, behind the story that goes from infantile sexuality to so-called adult normality there lies another, about the infantilism of a sexuality that destines the sexual relationship to its failures, which diverge according to the sexual genital in question.

Jean-Jacques Rassial

See also: Adolescence; Genital stage; Psychosexual development; Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality .

Bibliography

Freud, Sigmund. (1905d). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. SE, 7: 123-243.

Gutton, Philippe. (1991). Le pubertaire. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

Laufer, Moses, and Laufer, Egle. (1984). Adolescence and developmental breakdown: a psychoanalytic view. New Haven, CT: Yale University.

Perret-Catipovic, Maja, and Ladame, François (Eds.). (1997). Adolescence and psychoanalysis: The story and the history (Philip Slotkin, Trans.). London: Karnac.

Rassial, Jean-Jacques. (1990). L'Adolescent et le psychanalyse. Paris: Payot.

Further Reading

Bloch, H. Spencer. (1995). Adolescent development, psycho-pathology, and treatment. Madison, CT: International University Press.

Laufer, Moses. (1996). The psychoanalyst of the adolescent. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 51, 512-521.

Puberty

Definition

Puberty is the period of human development during which physical growth and sexual maturation occurs.

Description

Beginning as early as age eight in girls-and two years later, on average, in boys—the hypothalamus (part of the brain) signals hormonal change that stimulates the pituitary. In turn, the pituitary releases its own hormones called gonadotrophins that stimulate the gonads and adrenals. From these glands come a flood of sex hormones—androgens and testosterone in the male, estrogens and progestins in the female-that regulate the growth and function of the sex organs. It is interesting to note that the gonadotrophins are the same for males and females, but the sex hormones they induce are different.

In the United States, the first sign of puberty occurs on average at age 11 in girls, with menstruation and fertility following about two years later. Boys lag behind by about two years. Puberty may not begin until age 16 in boys and continue in a desultory fashion on past age 20. In contrast to puberty, adolescence is more of a social/cultural term referring to the interval between childhood and adulthood.

Diagnosis

Puberty has been divided into five Sexual Maturity Rating (SMR) stages by two doctors, W. Marshall and J. M. Tanner. These ratings are often referred to as Tanner Stages 1-5. Staging is based on pubic hair growth, on male genital development, and female breast development. Staging helps determine whether development is normal for a given age. Both sexes also grow axillary (arm pit) hair and pimples. Males develop muscle mass, a deeper voice, and facial hair. Females redistribute body fat. Along with the maturing of the sex organs, there is a pronounced growth spurt averaging 3-4 in (8-10 cm) and culminating in full adult stature. Puberty can be precocious (early) or delayed. It all depends upon the sex hormones.

Puberty falling outside the age limits considered normal for any given population should prompt a search for the cause. As health and nutrition have improved over the past few generations, there has been a gradual decrease in the average age for the normal onset of puberty.

• Excess hormone stimulation is the cause for precocious puberty. It can come from the brain in the form of gonadotrophins or from the gonads and adrenals. Overproduction may be caused by functioning tumors or simple overactivity. Brain overproduction can also be the result of brain infections or injury.
• Likewise, delayed puberty is due to insufficient hormone. If the pituitary output is inadequate, so will be the output from the gonads and adrenals. On the other hand, a normal pituitary will overproduce if it senses there are not enough hormones in the circulation.
• There are several congenital disorders (polyglandular deficiency syndromes) that include failure of hormone output. These children do not experience normal puberty, but it may be induced by giving them the proper hormones at the proper time.
• Finally, there are in females abnormalities in hormone production that produce male characteristics—so called virilizing syndromes. Should one of these appear during adolescence, it will disturb the normal progress of puberty. Notice that virilizing requires abnormal hormones in the female, while feminizing results from absent hormones in the male. Each embryo starts out life as female. Male hormones transform it if they are present.

Delayed or precocious puberty requires measurement of the several hormones involved to determine which are lacking or which are in excess. There are blood tests for each one. If a tumor is suspected, imaging of the suspect organ needs to be done with x rays, computed tomography scans (CT scans), or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Treatment

Puberty is a period of great stress, both physically and emotionally. The psychological changes and challenges of puberty are made infinitely greater if its timing is off.

In precocious puberty, the offending gland or tumor may require surgical attention, although there are several drugs now that counteract hormone effects. If delayed, puberty can be stimulated with the correct hormones. Treatment should not be delayed because necessary bone growth is also affected.

Prognosis

Properly administered hormones can restore the normal growth pattern.

Resources

BOOKS

Fauci, Anthony S., et al., editors. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997.

KEY TERMS

Adrenals— Glands on top of the kidneys that produce four different types of hormones.

Computed tomography scan (CT)— A method of creating images of internal organs using x rays.

Embryo— The life in the womb during the first two months.

Hormone— A chemical produced in one place that has an effect somewhere else in the body.

Hypothalamus— Part of the brain located deep in the center of the skull and just above the pituitary.

Gonads— Glands that make sex hormones and reproductive cells-testes in the male, ovaries in the female.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)— A method of creating images of internal organs. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses magnet fields and radio-frequency signals.

Pituitary— The "master gland" of the body, controlling many of the others by releasing stimulating hormones.

Syndrome— A collection of abnormalities that occur often enough to suggest they have a common cause.

Puberty

In humans, puberty is the period of physical development when sexual reproduction can first take place. It is characterized by maturity of the sexual organs and the development of secondary sexual characteristics (such as the deepening of a boy's voice or the development of a girl's breasts). The beginning of menstruation in females also begins in puberty. (Menstruation is the monthly cycle of the shedding of the lining of the uterus in women who are not pregnant.) The growth spurt experienced in puberty is characteristic of primates. Although other mammals may have increased reproductive organ growth, their overall size does not increase as dramatically.

Puberty marks the physical transition from childhood to adulthood. It usually occurs between the ages of 10 and 16, with females entering the stage earlier than males. Both sexes experience considerable increases in body height and weight during this period and require a balanced, nutritious diet with sufficient calories for optimal growth. Puberty usually lasts from two to five years and may be accompanied by emotional ups and downs.

Sexual development during puberty is regulated by the release of hormones (chemicals produced by the body that affect various bodily processes). The major control center that regulates the release of hormones in humans is the hypothalamus (a gland in the brain). The release of the hormone testosterone during puberty is associated with more aggressive behavior in males. Increases in estrogen (in females) and testosterone is associated with an increased sex drive, or libido.

Male puberty

During male puberty, the hypothalamus secretes hormones that stimulate the pituitary gland to release gonadotrophic hormones, which consist of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). FSH stimulates development of the tubes in the testes in which sperm production takes place and is thought to be involved in sperm maturation. LH stimulates the testes to release testosterone. In males, puberty is marked by enlargement of the testicles and penis, lengthening of the vocal cords, which causes the voice to deepen, and growth of pubic hair. Facial hair may also begin to appear on the face, chest, and abdomen.

Female puberty

In females, puberty begins with the development of breasts and widening of the hips. Breast development can begin as early as 8 years

Words to Know

Estrogens: Female sex hormones produced by the ovaries and involved in the development of reproductive organs and secondary sexual characteristics.

Fertility: The ability to produce offspring.

Hormone: A chemical produced in one part of the body that stimulates cellular activity in other body parts.

Hypothalamus: A part of the brain that regulates the production of hormones by the pituitary gland.

Menstruation: The cyclic shedding of the lining of the uterus in fertile women who do not become pregnant.

Ovary: One of a pair of female reproductive organs that produces eggs and sex hormones.

Pituitary gland: A gland located beneath the hypothalamus in the brain that secretes hormones controlling various bodily processes.

Primates: Mammals including monkeys, apes, and humans that have highly developed brains and hands with thumbs that are adapted for grasping.

Sperm: A male reproductive cell; semen.

Testes: The male reproductive organs that produce sperm and testosterone.

Testosterone: A male sex hormone that stimulates sperm production and is responsible for male sex characteristics.

of age but usually starts between 10 and 14. Full breast development may take two to five years. Pubic hair begins to grow shortly afterwards, followed by the first menstrual period, usually occurring between the ages of 10 and 14. Like male puberty, female puberty is initiated by hypothalamic hormones that stimulate the release of FSH and LH from the pituitary. FSH stimulates the development of follicles (sacs of cells in the ovaries in which eggs mature) and the secretion of reproductive hormones known as estrogens by the ovaries. Estrogens are involved in the growth of the uterus, development of the breasts, widening of the hips, and the distribution of fat and muscle. LH stimulates ovulation (the release of an egg from an ovary).

Sex and fertility

Puberty is a time when males and females begin to think about their sexuality and sexual activity. With sexual maturation comes fertility, meaning that females are now able to become pregnant and males' sperm are able to impregnate a female. Although teenagers' bodies may be sexually mature, the emotional maturity needed to engage in sexual activity and childrearing usually takes longer to develop.

[See also Endocrine system; Hormone; Reproductive system ]

puberty marks the point in human development where both males and females gain the capability to procreate. Puberty occurs during adolescence, which begins as early as age 10 and is usually completed by age 17. For girls, a rising level of oestrogen (female hormone) sets the process in motion. Pelvis and breast development are followed by a spurt in height and then the growth of underarm and pubic hair. Finally, menarche, the beginning of the first menstrual cycle, occurs. Ovulation does not automatically coincide with menarche. It may take as many as forty cycles for ovulation to become a regular part of the menstrual cycle. Though they are uniform in order, the age of onset, pace, and duration of these changes vary widely from one individual to another. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the average age of first menstruation has declined. In the US, it decreased from about 14 years old in 1900 to 12 years old in 1975. Scientists attribute this change to better living standards, particularly in regard to diet. In males a sharp increase in androgen (male hormone) and growth hormone spawns skeletal development, followed by the lowering of the voice, the growth of facial hair, increase in sex organ size, height, spermatogenesis, and muscle development. The outward physical signs of puberty tend to occur earlier in girls than in boys, particularly the growth spurt.

While the physiological terrain of puberty is clearly mapped, psychological and cultural changes meander in a much less orderly direction. Adolescence, by definition, begins in childhood and ends with young adulthood. To negotiate successfully this stage of human development, girls and boys must develop conceptual powers, independence, a sense a their own identity, and a way to make moral or ethical decisions. All the while, they are grappling with their emerging sexuality, marked by heightened sexual development and sexual interest.

The ‘normal’ routes through puberty vary according to cultural standards, socio-economic class, gender roles, and family structure. Some cultures and religions have clearly established rituals to mark puberty. The Jewish bar mitzvah, for example, celebrates a boy's entry into adolescence, and most of tribal Africa holds puberty rituals which may include dance, music, or seclusion.

According to John and Virginia Demos, adolescence is a rather modern invention which ‘did not exist before the last two decades of the nineteenth century.’ Its invention resulted from an increased focus on children among the middle classes, who no longer needed their children's labour for family survival and so re-defined childhood and puberty in more psychological and social terms. In addition, the nineteenth-century research of social scientists such as G. Stanley Hall and Sigmund Freud emphasized distinct categorizations for each stage of human development. The influential Hall defined adolescence as stressful, violent, and crisis-ridden.

Margaret A. Lowe

Bibliography

John and and Virginia Demos (1973). Adolescence in historical perspective. In The American Family in Social-Historical Perspective. St Martin's Press, New York.

puberty , period during which the onset of sexual maturity occurs. It usually takes place between the ages of 10 and 15 in both sexes but sometimes occurs as early as 7 or 8 years of age in females. The pituitary gland secretes hormones that stimulate enlargement and development of the sex organs, which thus become capable of reproduction. The appearance of secondary sex characteristics also occurs during puberty. In females the reproductive cycle of ovulation and menstruation begins, pubic hair appears, and development of the breasts and other body contours takes place. Physical changes in males include production and discharge of semen, appearance of facial and body hair, and deepening of the voice. Skin difficulties, such as acne , may affect both sexes. Puberty, a transition period coinciding with adolescence , involves both physiological and psychological adjustments. It is often marked by emotional stress arising as the adolescent relinquishes childhood behavior patterns and adopts those of an adult.

puberty Time in human development when sexual maturity is reached. The reproductive organs take on their adult form, and secondary sexual characteristics, such as the growth of pubic hair, start to become evident. Girls develop breasts and begin to menstruate; in boys there is deepening of the voice and the growth of facial hair. Puberty may begin at any time from about the age of ten, usually occurring earlier in girls than in boys. Hormones known as gonadotrophins regulated the process.

puberty XIV (not frequent till XVI). — L. pūbertās (or the deriv. F. puberté), f. pūbēs, -er- adult; see -TY.
So pubes XVI, whence pubic XIX. pubescent of the age of puberty XVII; downy XVIII. — F. pubescent or L. pūbēscēns, -ent-, prp. of pubēscere reach the age of puberty. pubescence XVII.

puberty (pew-ber-ti) n. the time at which the onset of sexual maturity occurs and the reproductive organs become functional (see gonadarche). It is manifested in both sexes by the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics and in girls by the start of menstruation. See also precocious puberty.
—pubertal adj.

pu·ber·ty / ˈpyoōbərtē/ • n. the period during which adolescents reach sexual maturity and become capable of reproduction. DERIVATIVES: pu·ber·tal / -bərtl/ adj.

puberty See adolescence.

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