Adolescent Physical Development Assignment. Psychology Essay
Adolescent Physical Development Assignment
This assignment is required for this unit and will count towards your course grade.
Purpose:
The purpose of this assignment is to enhance your understanding of puberty, associated changes in physical development and sexuality, and related concepts.
Task:
Write an essay (minimum length is 500 words) in which you apply 5 of the following concepts to real-life examples.
First, choose 5 concepts that you have clear memories of from puberty or in which you are especially interested:
puberty
puberty rite
menarche
spermarche
early puberty ("early bloomer")
late puberty ("late bloomer")
thin ideal
Anorexia nervosa
Bulimia nervosa
primary sexual characteristics
secondary sexual characteristics
growth spurt
sexually transmitted infection
distorted body image
sexual double standard
Use your textbook or additional resources to define/describe each term. Your descriptions should be *in your own words* and in enough detail that someone unfamiliar with this material could understand your description. Please do not copy or quote from the textbook
Next, for each concept, provide a real-life example. This example can come from personal experience (your own or a friend's), a news story, an online/social networking site, etc. The example you write about might even be a picture of yourself during adolescence (you can paste it into your document). Make sure to clearly explain why each is an example of the concept and expand on the example to show your understanding. For example, perhaps you'll mention if this was a typical or atypical example based on what you've learned in this class or you might discuss how the experience made you feel. Include any links to other resources.
Adolescent Physical Development
Your name
Subject and Section
October 21, 2018
Introduction
The period of adolescence is one of the most daunting phases in a person’s life. The rush of different bodily changes, together with the surge of emotions brought about by the hormonal changes within the body, has nonetheless created a potent mix of stress towards one’s well-being. On the one hand, some of these stress is brought about by the bodily changes that are visible during this phase (e.g., the onset of menstruation or the growing of pubic hairs). On the other hand, such stress could be caused by the differences in the thought processes and emotional resilience of adolescents. However, while these changes in the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of the body are inevitable, the negative repercussions that they bring towards the well-being of an individual are not. With proper knowledge and awareness on the reason behind these changes as well as its harmful effects, the author of this article believes that adolescence would not be as daunting as it seemed before.
One of the most common misconception in this phase is regarding the difference between puberty and adolescence. By definition, puberty refers to all the physical and bodily that is happening in an individual (Pickhardt, 2010). This could include growth spurts, development of breasts, and hoarseness of the voice, among others. In contrast, adolescence refers to the change in the mental and social state of an individual, as he moves from one phase of his life to the other. In other words, some individuals might undergo puberty first while feeling the least observable effects of adolescence later in his...