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| The Adolescent Period |
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| Adolescence refers to an age between 8 to 16 years. It is a stage of human development between childhood and adulthood. |
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| Many anatomical, morphological and physiological changes occur in adolescence. |
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 Secretion of hormones leads a boy to attain more muscular strong body, and to develop scrotum and testes. |
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 Developments in vocal cords changes the voice of boy to a masculine voice. |
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 Secretion of hormones leads to a girl to attain wider pelvic growth, development of uterus, fallopian tubes and generation of ovum. |
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 Girls attain tender soft muscles. |
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 The hormonal secretions lead to development of breasts. |
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 The vocal cords are not activated by hormones and voice of girls remain almost similar to their pre-adolescent voice. |
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 In both boys and girls, this age is characterised by fast development of digestive, excretory, nervous and skeletal system and helps them in attaining all characters / strengths / potentials of adult human body. |
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 During adolescence, boys and girls attain maximum possible height (as decided by their genetic characters) by proper hormonal secretions at appropriate stage. Any change in hormonal secretion - due to hereditary reasons - can lead to extra tall or dwarf girls / boys. |
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 Maximum length of bone growth leads to attaining the maximum chest expansion, length of legs, hands and thereby decides many permanent characters such as gait, sitting postures, sleeping postures, reading and writing habits, etc. |
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 In both girls and boys, adolescence is an important stage - when they have maximum hair growth on their head, in armpits, on chests (only in boys) as well as pubic region around their genital organs. It is at this stage that maximum skin growth is expected and due to such growth, the colour and glow of skin are decided at this stage |
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 In addition to these common morphological developments in boys include external genetilia develop predominantly by subtended testes and growth of penis in girth and length. The property of enlargement of penis during sexual excitement and later contraction to normal size is attained at this stage. |
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 In girls, during adolescence, many morphological changes occur. Puberty sets in between 10 - 14 years. It is characterised by the beginning of ovulation and the menstrual cycle. It is initiated by the hormone estrogen. It is characterised by an enlargement of breasts, broadening of the hip region, pubic and axillary hair growth, increase in subcutaneous fat in thighs and buttocks and stoppage of growth of long bones and height. |
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| In women, reproductive phase begins with the onset of menses at about the age of 13 years. It ends with its cessation (menopause) at about the age of 45 - 49 years. During this reproductive period, the ovaries and the female reproductive tract undergo a series of cyclic changes which are primarily meant to prepare them for fertilisation and pregnancy and collectively form the menstrual cycle. During this period periodic vaginal bleeding lasting for about 4 days called menstruation takes place. The length of the menstrual cycle varies widely in women, but on an average it extends to about 28 days. It is absent during pregnancy, may be suppressed during lactation and permanently stops at menopause. |
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| The menstrual cycle is divided into 4 phases. The are: |
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| a) Follicular phase or Proliferative phase |
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| b) Ovulatory phase |
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| c) Luteal or Secretory phase |
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| d) Menstrual phase. |
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| Passage from childhood to adulthood through adolescence involves number of psychological changes. Some of them are: |
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| i) Acceptance of responsibilities. |
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| ii) Increase in concentration. |
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| iii) Logically controlled and monitored behaviour. |
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| iv) Development of socially acceptable habits. |
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| v) Ability to think critically. |
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| vi) Ability to express their feelings and ideas. |
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| vii) Perceptions regarding society and social customs. |
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| viii) Perceptions regarding sex and marriage. |
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| Thus, a girl or boy undergoes an important stage of adolescence - during which many of his / her later physiological features are formed. His or her later behavioural pattern (like attitude towards social ciustoms, perception towards sex and marriage, ability to express) are all decided during adolescence. Generally, for most girls and boys, once some perception ability is developed about a particular issue during adolescence - it is prevalent even during their adulthood. Hence, misguidance, misconceptions or perverted attitude during adolescence may lead the minds of girls / boys to permanent wrong perceptions or may cause serious psychological problems in their lives. |
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