Childhood Observation Essay

1091 Words3 Pages

Adolescence is described as the stage between childhood and adulthood, between ages 12 to 18 (Johnson, 2006). The transition from childhood to adulthood in American and European societies has steadily increased over the last 100 years. Adolescence is associated with puberity and growth spurt which result from changes in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland (Johnson, 2006). I chose to focus on the biosocial domain during my observation of Kelby, a 14 year old girl. Many changes occur when a person hits puberty. With puberty comes pigmented pubic hair, changes in voice, changes in sexual genitalia, and a person now has a sex drive (Lerner, 2002). A person begins to think differently and that includes thinking about themselves more (Lerner, …show more content…

Adolescence begins slamming doors, flirting, and crying. The hormones make them more vulnerable to becoming stressed or angry and these actions actually produce more hormones. Every human responds to seasons, hours, days, and rise and fall of hours. Some biorhythms are on a day- night cycle called circadian rhythm and it occurs every 24 hours (Berger, 2014). Puberty affects those daily biorhythms and seasons. The hormones at puberty cause a phase delay in the sleep-wake cycles. For this reason many teens are wide awake and hungry at midnight and have little appetite or energy in the morning (Berger, 2014). Sleep deprivation and irregular sleep schedules can lead to mood disorders, insomnia, nightmares, and falling asleep while driving (Berger, 2014). Heavy girls reach menarche earlier and a study found that heavy boys reach puberty later. Body fat is necessary for girls and they must weigh 100 pounds (Berger, 2015). Increased food ability has led to weight gain, taller average weight, and earlier puberty. Scientists suspect that delayed puberty is caused by the substances in our food supply. The animals that we eat are given steroids, chemicals, and hormones to produce more and that might affect our sex hormones, appetite and body fat (Berger,

More about Childhood Observation Essay

Open Document