Adolescence

Adolescence, transitional phase of growth

and development between childhood and adulthood. The World Health
Organization (WHO) defines an adolescent as any person between ages 10 and
19. This age range falls within WHO’s definition of young people, which refers
to individuals between ages 10 and 24. In many societies, however,
adolescence is narrowly equated with puberty and the cycle of physical
changes culminating in reproductive maturity. In other societies adolescence
is understood in broader terms that encompass psychological, social,
and moral terrain as well as the strictly physical aspects of maturation. In
these societies the term adolescence typically refers to the period between ages
12 and 20 and is roughly equivalent to the word teens.
In many societies, however, adolescence is narrowly equated
with puberty and the cycle of physical changes culminating in reproductive
maturity. In other societies adolescence is understood in broader terms
that encompass psychological, social, and moral terrain as well as the strictly
physical aspects of maturation. In these societies the
term adolescence typically refers to the period between ages 12 and 20 and is
roughly equivalent to the word teens. During adolescence, issues of emotional
(if not physical) separation from parents arise. While this sense of separation
is a necessary step in the establishment of personal values, the transition to
self-sufficiency forces an array of adjustments upon many adolescents.
Furthermore, teenagers seldom have clear roles of their own in society but
instead occupy an ambiguous period between childhood and adulthood. These
issues most often define adolescence in Western cultures, and the response to
them partly determines the nature of an individual’s adult years. Also during
adolescence, the individual experiences an upsurge of sexual feelings following
the latent sexuality of childhood. It is during adolescence that the individual
learns to control and direct sexual urges. Some specialists find that the
difficulties of adolescence have been exaggerated and that for many
adolescents the process of maturation is largely peaceful and untroubled.
Other specialists consider adolescence to be an intense and often stressful
developmental period characterized by specific types of behaviour .
CHARACTERISTICS OF ADOLESCENT

(1)Adolescence is a Transitional Period

Transition does not mean a break with or a change from has gone before but rather a passage from one
stage of to another. During any transitional period, the individual’s status is vague and there is confusion
about the roles the individual is expected to play. The adolescent, at this time,is neither a child nor an
adult. If adolescents behave like children, they are told to “act their age.” If they try to act like adults,
they are often accused of being “too big for their britches” and are reproved for their attempts to act
like adults. On the other hand, the ambiguous status of today’s adolescents is advantageous in that it
gives them time to try out different lifestyles and decide what patterns of behaviour, values, and
attitudes meet their needs best. Third, changes in their bodies, their interests, and in the roles the social
group expects them to play create new problems. Fourth, as interests and behavior patterns change, so
do values. What was important to them as children seems less important to them now that they are
near adults. They recognize quality as more important than quantity.Fifth, most adolescents are
ambivalent about changes. While they want and demand independence, they often dread the
responsibilities that go with independence and question their ability to cope with these responsibilities.

(2) Adolescence Is a Problem Age

While every age has its problems, those of adolescence are often especially difficult for boys and girls to
cope with. There are two reasons for this. First, throughout childhood, their problems were met and
solved, in part at least, by parents and teachers. As a result, many adolescents are inexperienced in
coping with problems alone. Second, because adolescents want to feel that they are independent, they
demand the right of coping with their own problems, rebuffing attempts on the part of parents and
teachers to help them. Because of their inability to cope with problems alone as well as they believe
they can, many adolescents find that the solutions do not always come up to their expectations.

(3) Adolescence is a time of Search for identity

Adolescence is a time when teenagers begin to explore and assert their personal identities. During this
developmental period, teenagers engage in a process of searching for where they fit in with peers and
society at large. The identity the adolescent seeks to clarify is who he is, what his role in society is to be?
It is common for adolescents to have an unstable sense of self and try out new personal labels and
associate with various peer groups. Additionally, adolescents might struggle to define their sexual and
gender identity during the teenage years. While these unstable identity issues are a common part of
early adolescence, they tend to stabilize between the ages of 19 and 21, according to the American
Academy of Child and Adolescent’s “Facts for Families," as cited by the Early Head Start National
Resource Centre.

(4) Peer Relationships

During adolescence, relationships with peers begin to take precedence over relationships with the
family. Although family interactions are still important and essential for a teen’s development,
adolescents often place a stronger emphasis on their friends’ perceptions and values. Likewise, during
the adolescent years, teens might be strongly influenced by their peers’ beliefs and behaviors. Paired
with adolescents' limited life experience and under-developed decision-making skills,teenagers are
often vulnerable to negative peer pressure.

(5) Adolescence Is the Threshold of Adulthood

As adolescents approach legal maturity, they are anxious to shed the stereotype of teenagers and to
create the impression that they are near-adults. Dressing and acting like adults, they discover, are not
always enough. So, they begin to concentrate on behavior that is associated with the adult status-
smoking, drinking, using drugs, and engaging in sex. They believe that this behavior will create the image
they desire.

(6) Independence and Testing Boundaries

Adolescents often test parents’ and teachers’ rules and boundaries. Although

this rebellious behavior might seem oppositional to parents, in most cases,

this behavior is driven by the adolescent’s need to develop autonomy,

experience new activities and earn more independence, explains the

American Psychological Association. Even though teenagers can benefit from

testing boundaries during adolescence, they still require rules and boundaries

if they are to avoid negative influences and achieve their potential.

(7)Self-cantered Attitudes

It is often difficult for adolescents to look at circumstances from other people’s perspectives. This is due,
in part, to their still-developing brain structures. Thus, adolescents might come off as self-centered and
focused on their own needs without considering how those needs affect others. This apparent lack of
empathy is normal and typically resolves itself once a teen reaches the end of adolescence. However, a
complete lack of empathy in adolescents could mean a more significant underlying mental health issue
exists. If that's the case, consult a mental health worker.

DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS OF ADOLESCENCE

A developmental task is a task that arises at or about a certain period in life,

unsuccessful achievement of which leads to inability to perform tasks
associated with the next period or stage in life.

Developmental Task Nature of Task

1. Learning to get along with friends of both To learn to look upon girls as women and
sexes. boys as men; to become an adult among
adults; to learn to work with others for a
  common purpose, disregarding personal
feelings; to lead without dominating.
2. Accepting one's physical body and
keeping it healthy. To accept one's body; to keep it healthy
through good nutrition, exercise, disease
  prevention, and other health practices.

3. Becoming more self-sufficient. To develop affection for parents without

dependence upon them; to develop respect
for older adults without dependence upon
  them.

4. Making decisions about marriage and To explore attitudes toward family life and
family life. having children; to acquire the knowledge
necessary for home management and, if
  desired, child rearing.

5 Preparing for a job or career. To develop career/vocational goals and

ways to reach these goals; to be able to
  make a living.

6. Acquiring a set of values to guide To develop an outlook toward life based on

behavior. what is important.

  To participate as a responsible person with

friends at home, and in the community; to
7. Becoming socially responsible. develop personal moral values to guide
behavior.
Developmental Tasks of Normal Adolescence
Some years ago, Professor Robert Havighurst of the University of Chicago proposed
that stages in human development can best be thought of in terms of the
developmental tasks that are part of the normal transition. He identified eleven
developmental tasks associated with the adolescent transition. Each of the
Havighurst tasks can also be seen as elements of the overall sense of self that
adolescents carry with them as they move toward and into young adulthood.

1. The adolescent must adjust to a new physical sense of self. At no other time
since birth does an individual undergo such rapid and profound physical
changes as during early adolescence. Puberty is marked by sudden rapid
growth in height and weight. Also, the young person experiences the
emergence and accentuation of those physical traits that make him or her a
boy or girl. The young person looks less like a child and more like a physically
and sexually mature adult. The effect of this rapid change is that the young
adolescent often becomes focused on his or her body.
2. The adolescent must adjust to new intellectual abilities. In addition to a
sudden spurt in physical growth, adolescents experience a sudden increase in
their ability to think about their world. As a normal part of maturity, they are
able to think about more things. However, they are also able to conceive of
their world with a new level of awareness. Before adolescence, children's
thinking is dominated by a need to have a concrete example for any problem
 that they solve. Their thinking is constrained to what is real and physical.
During adolescence, young people begin to recognize and understand
abstractions. The growth in ability to deal with abstractions accelerates during
the middle stages of adolescence.
3. The adolescent must adjust to increased cognitive demands at school. Adults
see high school in part as a place where adolescents prepare for adult roles
and responsibilities and in part as preparatory for further education. School
curricula are frequently dominated by inclusion of more abstract, demanding
material, regardless of whether the adolescents have achieved formal
thought. Since not all adolescents make the intellectual transition at the same
rate, demands for abstract thinking prior to achievement of that ability may be
frustrating.
4. The adolescent must develop expanded verbal skills. As adolescents mature
intellectually, as they face increased school demands, and as they prepare for
adult roles, they must develop new verbal skills to accommodate more
complex concepts and tasks. Their limited language of childhood is no longer
adequate. Adolescents may appear less competent because of their inability
to express themselves meaningfully.
5. The adolescent must develop a personal sense of identity. Prior to
adolescence, one's identity is an extension of one's parents. During
adolescence, a young person begins to recognize her or his uniqueness and
separation from parents. As such, one must restructure the answer to the
question "What does it mean to be me?" or "Who am I?"
6. The adolescent must establish adult vocational goals. As part of the process
of establishing a personal identity, the adolescent must also begin the process
of focusing on the question "What do you plan to be when you grow up?"
Adolescents must identify, at least at a preliminary level what are their adult
vocational goals and how they intend to achieve those goals.
7. The adolescent must establish emotional and psychological independence
from his or her parents. Childhood is marked by strong dependence on one's
parents. Adolescents may yearn to keep that safe, secure, supportive,
dependent relationship. Yet, to be an adult implies a sense of independence,
of autonomy, of being one's own person. Adolescents may vacillate between
their desire for dependence and their need to be independent. In an attempt
to assert their need for independence and individuality, adolescents may
respond with what appears to be hostility and lack of cooperation.
8. The adolescent must develop stable and productive peer
relationships. Although peer interaction is not unique to adolescence, peer
interaction seems to hit a peak of importance during early and middle
 adolescence. The degree to which an adolescent is able to make friends and
have an accepting peer group is a major indicator of how well the adolescent
will successfully adjust in other areas of social and psychological development.
9. The adolescent must learn to manage her or his sexuality. With their
increased physical and sexual maturity, adolescents need to incorporate into
their personal identity, a set of attitudes about what it means to be male or
female. Their self-image must accommodate their personal sense of
masculinity and femininity. Additionally, they must incorporate values about
their sexual behavior.
10.The adolescent must adopt a personal value system. During adolescence, as
teens develop increasingly complex knowledge systems, they also adopt an
integrated set of values and morals. During the early stages of moral
development, parents provide their child with a structured set of rules of what
is right and wrong, what is acceptable and unacceptable. Eventually the
adolescent must assess the parents' values as they come into conflict with
values expressed by peers and other segments of society. To reconcile
differences, the adolescent restructures those beliefs into a personal ideology.
11.The adolescent must develop increased impulse control and behavioral
maturity. In their shift to adulthood, most young people engage in one or
more behaviors that place them at physical, social, or educational risk. Risky
behaviors are sufficiently pervasive among adolescents that risk taking may be
a normal developmental process of adolescence. Risk taking is particularly
evident during early and middle adolescence. Gradually adolescents develop a
set of behavioral self-controls through which they assess which behaviors are
acceptable and adult-like.

Adolescents do not progress through these multiple developmental tasks separately.

At any given time, adolescents may be dealing with several. Further, the centrality of
specific developmental tasks varies with early, middle, and late periods of the
transition. During the early adolescent years young people make their first attempts
to leave the dependent, secure role of a child and to establish themselves as unique
individuals, independent of their parents. Early adolescence is marked by rapid
physical growth and maturation. The focus of adolescents' self-concepts are thus
often on their physical self and their evaluation of their physical acceptability. Early
adolescence is also a period of intense conformity to peers. "Getting along," not
being different, and being accepted seem somehow pressing to the early adolescent.
The worst possibility, from the view of the early adolescent, is to be seen by peers as
"different."
Middle adolescence is marked by the emergence of new thinking skills. The intellectual world of
the young person is suddenly greatly expanded. Although peers still play an important role in the
life of middle adolescents, they are increasingly self-directed. Their concerns about peers are
more directed toward their opposite sexed peers. It is also during this period that the move to
establish psychological independence from one's parents accelerates. Much of their
psychological energies are directed toward preparing for adult roles and making preliminary
decisions about vocational goals. Despite some delinquent behavior, middle adolescence is a
period during which young people are oriented toward what is right and proper. They are
developing a sense of behavioral maturity and learning to control their impulsiveness.

Late adolescence is marked be the final preparations for adult roles. The developmental demands
of late adolescence often extend into the period that we think of as young adulthood. Late
adolescents attempt to crystallize their vocational goals and to establish sense of personal
identity. Their needs for peer approval are diminished and they are largely psychologically
independent from their parents. The shift to adulthood is nearly complete.

Cognitive development

Cognitive development means the growth of a child’s ability to think and

reason. This growth happens differently from ages 6 to 12, and from ages 12
to 18.

Children ages 6 to 12 years old develop the ability to think in concrete ways.
These are called concrete operations. These things are called concrete
because they’re done around objects and events. This includes knowing how
to:

 Combine (add)
 Separate (subtract or divide)
 Order (alphabetize and sort)
 Transform objects and actions (change things, such as 5 pennies = 1
nickel)
Ages 12 to 18 is called adolescence. Kids and teens in this age group do
more complex thinking. This type of thinking is also known as formal logical
operations. This includes the ability to:

 Do abstract thinking. This means thinking about possibilities.

 Reason from known principles. This means forming own new ideas or
questions.
 Consider many points of view. This means to compare or debate
ideas or opinions.
 Think about the process of thinking. This means being aware of the
act of thought processes.
cognitive growth happens during the teen years
From ages 12 to 18, children grow in the way they think. They move from
concrete thinking to formal logical operations. It’s important to note that:

 Each child moves ahead at their own rate in their ability to think in more
complex ways.
 Each child develops their own view of the world.
 Some children may be able to use logical operations in schoolwork long
before they can use them for personal problems.
 When emotional issues come up, they can cause problems with a
child’s ability to think in complex ways.
 The ability to consider possibilities and facts may affect decision-
making. This can happen in either positive or negative ways.
Types of cognitive growth through the years
A child in early adolescence:

 Uses more complex thinking focused on personal decision-making in

school and at home
 Begins to show use of formal logical operations in schoolwork
 Begins to question authority and society's standards
 Begins to form and speak his or her own thoughts and views on many
topics. You may hear your child talk about which sports or groups he or
she prefers, what kinds of personal appearance is attractive, and what
parental rules should be changed.
A child in middle adolescence:

 Has some experience in using more complex thinking processes

 Expands thinking to include more philosophical and futuristic concerns
 Often questions more extensively
 Often analyses more extensively
 Thinks about and begins to form his or her own code of ethics (for
example, What do I think is right?)
 Thinks about different possibilities and begins to develop own identity
(for example, Who am I? )
 Thinks about and begins to systematically consider possible future
goals (for example, What do I want? )
 Thinks about and begins to make his or her own plans
 Begins to think long-term
 Uses systematic thinking and begins to influence relationships with
others
A child in late adolescence:

 Uses complex thinking to focus on less self-centered concepts and

personal decision-making
 Has increased thoughts about more global concepts, such as justice,
history, politics, and patriotism
 Often develops idealistic views on specific topics or concerns
 May debate and develop intolerance of opposing views
 Begins to focus thinking on making career decisions
 Begins to focus thinking on their emerging role in adult society
How you can encourage healthy cognitive growth
To help encourage positive and healthy cognitive growth in your teen, you
can:

 Include him or her in discussions about a variety of topics, issues, and

current events.
 Encourage your child to share ideas and thoughts with you.
 Encourage your teen to think independently and develop his or her own
ideas.
 Help your child in setting goals.
 Challenge him or her to think about possibilities for the future.
 Compliment and praise your teen for well-thought-out decisions.
 Help him or her in re-evaluating poorly made decisions.
If you have concerns about your child's cognitive development, talk with your
child's healthcare provider. 
Emotional & social development

Adolescence is a time of big social and emotional

development for your child. It helps to know what to expect
and how to support your child through the changes.
During adolescence, you’ll notice changes in the way your child interacts with family, friends and
peers. Every teen’s social and emotional development is different. Your child’s unique combination
of genes, brain development, environment, experiences with family and friends, and community and
culture shape development.
Social changes and emotional changes show that your child is forming an independent identity and
learning to be an adult.
Social changes
You might notice that your teen is:
  searching for identity: young people are busy working out who they are and where they fit
in the world. This search can be influenced by gender, peer group, cultural background,
media, school and family expectations
 seeking more independence: this is likely to influence the decisions your child makes and
the relationships your child has with family and friends
 seeking more responsibility, both at home and at school
 looking for new experiences: the nature of teenage brain development means that
teenagers are likely to seek out new experiences and engage in more risk-taking
behaviour. But they’re still developing control over their impulses
 thinking more about “right” and “wrong”: your child will start developing a stronger
individual set of values and morals. Teenagers also learn that they’re responsible for their
own actions, decisions and consequences. They question more things. Your words and
actions shape your child’s sense of ‘‘right’’ and “wrong”
 influenced more by friends, especially when it comes to behaviour, sense of self and self-
esteem
 starting to develop and explore a sexual identity: your child might start to have romantic
relationships or go on “dates”. These are not necessarily intimate relationships. For some
young people, intimate or sexual relationships don’t occur until later on in life
 communicating in different ways: the internet, cell phones and social media can
significantly influence how your child communicates with friends and learns about the
world. 
Emotional changes
You might notice that your teen:
 shows strong feelings and intense emotions at different times. Moods might seem
unpredictable. These emotional ups and downs can lead to increased conflict. Your
child’s brain is still learning how to control and express emotions in a grown-up way
 is more sensitive to your emotions: young people get better at reading and processing
other people’s emotions as they get older. While they’re developing these skills, they can
sometimes misread facial expressions or body language
 is more self-conscious, especially about physical appearance and changes. Teenage
self-esteem is often affected by appearance - or by how teenagers think they look. As
they develop, teens might compare their bodies with those of friends and peers
 goes through a “invincible” stage of thinking and acting as if nothing bad could happen to
him. Your child’s decision-making skills are still developing, and your child is still learning
about the consequences of actions.
Changes in relationships
You might notice that your teen:
 wants to spend less time with family and more time with friends
  has more arguments with you: some conflict between parents and children during the
teenage years is normal as teens seek more independence. It actually shows that your
child is maturing. Conflict tends to peak in early adolescence. If you feel like you’re
arguing with your child all the time, it might help to know that this isn’t likely to affect your
long term relationship with your child
 sees things differently from you: this isn’t because your child wants to upset you. It’s
because your child is beginning to think more abstractly and to question different points of
view. At the same time, some teens find it hard to understand the effects of their
behaviour and comments on other people. These skills will develop with time.
Supporting social and emotional development
Here are some ideas to help you support your teen’s social and emotional development.
 Be a role model for forming and maintaining positive relationships with your friends,
children, partner and colleagues. Your child will learn from observing relationships where
there is respect, empathy and positive ways of resolving conflict.
 Get to know your child’s friends, and make them welcome in your home. This will help
you keep in touch with your child’s social relationships. It also shows that you recognize
how important your child’s friends are to your child’s sense of self.
 Listen to your child’s feelings. If your child wants to talk, stop and give your child your full
attention. If you’re in the middle of something, make a specific time when you can listen.
 Be explicit and open about your feelings. In particular, tell your child how you feel when
your child behaves in different ways. Be a role model for positive ways of dealing with
difficult emotions and moods.
 Talk with your child about relationships, sex and sexuality. Look for “teachable moments”
- those everyday times when you can easily bring up these issues. Focus on the non-
physical. Teenagers are often self-conscious and anxious about their bodies and
appearance. So reinforce the positive aspects of your child’s social and emotional
development. 
Staying connected with your teen can be an important part of supporting your child’s social and
emotional development.
Children with special needs
It’s normal for parents to worry that their child with disability won’t make friends easily or be accepted
into a peer group. It helps to remember that the rate of social and emotional development varies
widely for young people.
Teens who miss a lot of school because of a physical or mental illness, or who have a visible
physical disability, might find it harder to make and keep friendships. This doesn’t mean that
friendships won’t happen. There might be other ways for your child to form friendships, such as
joining community groups and online networks. Give your child lots of love and support at home.
Boost confidence and self-esteem by focusing on your child’s strengths and interests.
Adolescence Sexuality
Adolescent sexuality has changed over the past 50 years, with adolescents now reaching physical
maturity earlier and marrying later. Puberty marks the obvious physical development in early to
middle adolescence and is seen as the time for potential onset of sexual thoughts and
experimentation. On average, middle adolescence is a time when teens begin to be interested in
more intimate relationships and experimentation. Parental and societal concerns regarding
premature sexual activity include unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs),
sexual abuse, and potential emotional consequences of sexual behaviours. These concerns
underscore the importance of providing adolescents with preventive health services and
comprehensive sexual health education.

Adolescent Development and Sexual Behavior

Approximately 10 years ago, new guidelines published in Pediatrics advised that girls who start to
develop breasts and pubic hair at age 6 or 7 years are not necessarily abnormal. (1) The guidelines
were based on a number of studies, the most important being the trial by Herman-Giddens et al (2)
of 17,000 girls between the ages of 3 and 12 years who were patients in more than 200
paediatricians’ offices across the country. Published in 1997, the report was based on girls evaluated
in 1992 and 1993. Previous norms for puberty were based on a study of fewer than 200 girls in a
British orphanage in the 1960s. (3)
The obesity epidemic has been postulated as the likely cause of earlier onset of puberty. However, a
recent Danish study reported that Danish girls were developing breasts at an earlier age than they
were 15 years ago. (4) The study found that the onset of puberty (as measured by breast
development) dropped from a mean age of 10.9 years in 1991 to 9.9 years in 2006. This change
was not due to obesity, because the girls’ BMI remained constant across the study periods. Other
possible explanations for earlier puberty include environmental factors, socioeconomic conditions,
nutrition, and access to preventive health care. Girls tend to move through adolescence earlier than
boys. The stages for both sexes are the same and are divided into early, middle, and late
adolescence.

Human sexuality is much more complex than the biological forces that initiate the sexual
maturation process. As such, the development of adolescent sexuality includes not only physical
development but also cognitive, emotional, social, and moral development. Yet, as emphasized
throughout this article, these developmental areas do not uniformly advance at the same rate. This
is particularly problematic with respect to adolescent sexuality because poor decisions, due to a lack
of cognitive and/or emotional maturity, can have dire, life-long consequences. Thus, it is important
for caregivers to be prepared to discuss all aspects of sexuality (i.e., the physical, cognitive,
emotional, social, and moral aspects of sexuality) so that they can best assist their teens to make
wise and thoughtful decisions. When parents understand the process of adolescent sexual
development they are in a better position to assist their children. In addition, knowledge of this
information enables caregivers to know when to intervene if necessary.

This portion of the article will describe the average, natural evolution of adolescent sexuality: their
sexual thoughts and questions; their sexual feelings and concerns; and their sexual behavior and
choices. Some youth may choose to remain entirely abstinent from sexual activity due to their
personal values and beliefs; even so, they will still experience similar thoughts, feelings, and desires,
as their sexually active peers. Parents are cautioned to remember that every youth is unique.
Children may reach these developmental milestones at ages that are different from averages listed
here and still be considered "normal."

Early adolescence (ages 12-15): The age of curiosity and experimentation

Early adolescence is a precarious period in youths' sexual development because of the inter-
relationship between sexual development, cognitive development, and emotional development.
Youth at this age lack the cognitive and emotional maturity that is necessary to make wise and
healthy decisions regarding their sexuality and are ill-prepared to cope with consequences of sexual
activity. This is particularly unfortunate as today's adolescents are becoming sexually active sooner
than previous generations. According to a survey by the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) published
in 2010, 46% of high school students were reported have sexual intercourse (Eaton, Kann, Kinchen,
et al., 2010). This stands in contrast to the 1940's when only 10% of women ages 16-17 reported
having had sex, while 50-60% of men of the same age, reported having had sex (Kinsey, Pomeroy, &
Martin, 1948; Kinsey, Pomeroy, Martin, & Gebbard, 1953). Since sexual development begins during
Puberty, the reader may wish to review the Middle Childhood article on Puberty for more detailed
information and for specific advice regarding menstruation, erections, etc.
When teens are approximately 12-13 years of age, they begin to show a general interest in sexual
topics. Youth may try to satisfy their curiosity by reading information about sex, and viewing images
with a sexual content. This may include drawings in anatomy books, photographs of naked people,
images of animal sexual behavior, and pornographic materials. Youth can readily find these images
at the library, in an older sibling's biology text book, watching certain television programs, viewing
adult magazines, or searching on the Internet. Some youth may attempt to satisfy their curiosity by
"peeping;" i.e., to secretly observe people when they are naked such as when they are bathing or
changing clothes. It is normal for youth to want to avoid the embarrassment of being discovered
doing any of these things so they may attempt to deny or conceal what they are doing.

During early adolescence boys will experience frequent erections since this is the normal response
of the male body to sexual excitement. Erections can also occur spontaneously for no apparent
reason at all as boys' bodies adjust to the extreme chemical and hormonal changes initiated during
puberty. Similarly, girls may find they produce vaginal secretions for no apparent reason, even when
they're not menstruating. Sometimes, these secretions are caused by sexual arousal, but increased
vaginal secretions can also be caused by normal hormonal fluctuations during their monthly cycle.

By ages 13-14 years, guys will have a more obvious interest in sex than girls do, but girls are
interested in sex as well. Guys will have even more frequent erections at this age. It's quite normal
for guys to experiment with their erections and their sexual arousal through masturbation. Because
sexual pleasure is a new experience, boys may want to masturbate quite frequently. Since indicators
of girls' sexual arousal are not as overtly obvious as boys' erections, girls may not masturbate as
frequently because they may be less aware of their sexual arousal.

Although sexual behavior is usually limited to masturbation at this age, both guys and girls may start
to experiment with sexual arousal through flirting, hugging, and playfully hitting or tickling other
youth they are romantically interested in. They may also start kissing or "making out" with other
teens. This may occur between two teens in private or it may occur in the context of a larger group,
such as a party, where youth might play a kissing game like spin-the-bottle.

Youth at this age may also begin to experiment with vocalizing their sexual thoughts when they are
with other teens. They may begin telling sexual jokes or using sexual double entendres, which are
comments that can have two meanings: the usual or customary meaning, and a subtly inferred
sexual meaning. Teens may also begin hinting about their own sexual activity to gauge others'
reactions and readiness to talk about sex.

As discussed in the cognitive development section, teens begin to become concerned with other
people's opinions and judgments of them. Therefore, it makes sense that both guys and girls will
become more modest about their own nudity, even around people of the same gender. For instance,
a father and son may have routinely enjoyed going to the gym together to play basketball, and
comfortably dressed next to each other in the locker room. But suddenly, the son seems highly
uncomfortable with this arrangement, and may attempt to dress in another row of the locker room,
or may even make excuses to avoid going to the gym altogether. This increased sense of modesty is
due to youths' own uncertainty about their new adult-like bodies and their concerns about how
others might judge their body. Family members will need to remember to adjust to this increased
need for privacy.