What is adolescence? What is puberty?
How does the body physically change beginning in puberty? What are three ways that the brain changes during adolescence?
What is the normal/average timing of pubertal events?
What pattern in menarche do we see in developed countries, since 1830?
How do testosterone and estrogen levels change in girls and boys throughout puberty?
What is the relationship between being overweight and starting puberty?
What are the average outcomes for boys and for girls who either physically develop early or late?
What body image challenges do boys and girls face? What can parents and society do to make puberty and body issues less distressing for teens?
Describe teen sexuality in the U.S. What is the average age for first heterosexual/vaginal intercourse? What is the general trend in the percentage of sexually active teens?
Describe the rates of teen pregnancy in the US by race/ethnicity and over time.
What percentage of U.S. teens identifies as LGBT? What is the general pattern of LGBT identification across ages/cohorts?
Terms to understand
- Puberty
- Menarche
- Spermarche
- Primary sexual characteristics
- Secondary sexual characteristics
- Growth spurt
- Thin ideal
- Sexual orientation
- Heterosexual
- LGBT
- Lesbian
- Gay
- Bisexual
- Transgender