What is Adolescence?
A) Puberty and adolescence
All living creatures are subjected to growth as a part of their natural processes.
In humans, when the body of individual changes at a particular period of time resulting in reproductive maturity. This stage is defined as adolescence. Adolescence occurs in all human beings. The adolescence period in humans begins around the age of 12 or 13 and lasts up to 18 or 19. During adolescence, both boys and girls undergo several changes in their bodies. These changes mark the onset of puberty. During puberty, both boys and girls mature in terms of reproducing and enhancing their body features to become a fully-grown adults.
B) Changes in Puberty
1. Height: Both boys and girls show an increase in height during puberty and reach a maximum at the end of adolescence.
2. Body shape: boys show a broadening of the chest and an increase in muscles, while for girls, an increase in hip and waist size is observed.
3. Voice: The voice in boys cracks up during puberty as the voice box begins to grow. This results in protruding of the voice box which can be seen outside the throat. This is known as Adam’s apple. Girls, during puberty, develop a high-pitched voice.
4. The activity of glands: Both boys and girls show increased activity in the secretion of sweat glands and sebaceous glands resulting in an outbreak of acne and pimples on the skin.
5. Development of sex organs: During puberty, the male organs' penis and testes develop completely and start to produce the male gametes, and sperms. In girls, the ovaries enlarge and release mature eggs in a periodic cycle known as a menstrual cycle.
6. Mental, intellectual, and emotional maturity: During adolescence, the mind has a lot of control over the body as the mind starts to think independently and creatively and is influenced majorly by the environment.
c) Development of secondary sexual characters during puberty
Boys and girls undergo major changes in their bodies, which are known as secondary sexual characteristics. As female gametes develop in girls, secondary sexual characteristics like breasts begin to develop. In boys, the development of muscles, mustache, facial hair, and chest hair are secondary sexual characteristics. In both boys and girls, the development of pubic hair and hair in underarms are seen to develop gradually.