You're Changing Every Day

You're not a little kid anymore. You just have to look in a mirror to see the changes you're going through. But there are more changes going on than ones you can see. You're going through changes inside, too. Your emotions are changing, your attitudes are changing and even the way you think is changing. It's all very normal at this time in your life. You're changing socially, as well. You no longer expect your parents to make all of your decisions for you. You're probably starting to ask more questions and pose more challenges. Some of your changes "socially," may include:

» Becoming less dependent on your parents
» Spending more time with your friends
» Questioning and even challenging authority figures
» Trying new identities: changing hairstyles, clothing styles, accents
» Listening to new music, watching new TV shows

You're also changing physically. Teenagers develop at different rates. Some start to mature early on, others take longer to grow and mature. This time in your life is known as puberty. Puberty is simply defined as the biological changes of adolescence. A study in adolescent development conducted at Penn State University identified five physical occurrences from puberty:

» Growth occurs.
» Body composition begins to change.
» The circulatory and respiratory systems begin to change.
» The primary sex characteristics develop
» The secondary sex characteristics develop

The growth spurt usually triggers the feet and legs to grow, followed by the body's trunk and ending in the shoulders and chest. Bones become harder and more dense, while muscle and fat contribute to an adolescent increase in weight. Sexual development involves enlargement, maturity and the reproduction of the primary sex organs. For boys, the testes begin to produce part of the fluid for sperm cells and the prostate gland to produce semen. Males are able to ejaculate the semen, which contains the sperm. For girls, the ovaries release the mature ova into the fallopian tubes and menstruation occurs.

The Teen Health Project at the Dalhousie Medical School in Nova Scotia, Canada examines all aspects of adolescent development including growth and human sexuality. According to the project, girls experience puberty about 2 years earlier than most boys. The first signs of puberty in girls are usually the development of breast buds or pubic hair, appearing in most girls between the ages of 8-10 years. Then breast enlargement, pubic hair growth, a height spurt and the onset of menstruation all occur some time in the next 4-10 years. Puberty in boys is usually marked by the darkening of the scrotal skin and enlargement of the testes between the ages of 10 and 12 years. There is more pubic hair growth; a height spurt and the genitalia enlarge over the next 6 years.

With height spurts and a shift in distribution of body fat and muscles, hair growing in places it has never grown before, breasts and genitalia enlarging and once smooth skin erupting with blemishes -- how are you ever supposed to develop a satisfying body image? Given all of these dramatic changes of pubescence, it is not surprising that you spend hours in front of the mirror looking at a body that is constantly changing in front of your eyes! You are not only aware of your own body's change, but of those of your friends as well. Often we make comparisons and worry that our development may be either too fast or too slow. The important thing to realize is that there really is no nomal timetable.