CHANGES IN ADOLESCENTS
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
Controlled growth during
childhood and the changes during puberty.
made up of a set of organs called endocrine glands.
direct your growth. produce hormones, which are released into the
bloodstream and travel to other organs and tissues wher they stimulate growth
and regulate activity.
PITUITARY GLAND
-affects your growth more than any other gland.
-produces many kinds of hormones and one of these is the growth hormone.
-hormone regulates the development of long bones and muscles in the body.
-causes growth throughout childhood and adolescence and helps your body reach its adult
size or height.
-when your pituitary gland starts making growth hormones, your growth spurt begins.
-releases hormones that cause your reproductive glands to become active produces many
kinds of hormones and one of these is the growth hormone.
-Important changes occur inside and outside your body as your reproductive organs
become more active.
SEX HORMONES:
Testosterone – male (testes)
Estrogen – female (ovaries)
-stimulate the many physical changes that adolescents go through during puberty.
Secondary sex characteristics:
* development of the breast.
appearance of maxillary and pubic hair, and others.
Boys’ testes also begin to produce
sperm cells.
-Girls’ ovaries begin to develop egg cells
PHYSICAL CHANGES
-Secondary sex characteristics are changes not directly related to sexual reproduction.
Boys
-The voice becomes deeper.
-The Adam’s apple becomes bigger.
-The shoulders become wider than the hips.
-Hair grows on the face, body and pubic area.
-The skin on the upper arms and thighs becomes rough. Girls
-Breasts develop.
-The hips become wider than the shoulders.
-Hair grows on the underarm and pubic area.
MENTAL OR INTELLECTUAL
CHANGES
-experience rapid mental development.
-changes in the structure of the brain.
-development of their intellectual ability makes adolescents less accepting of what others
say.
-make better decisions because they can evaluate risks and rewards better.
-tendency to become bored with routine activities; they need to be challenged.
-already capable of thinking deeply.
-think less of themselves.
-control and coordinate their thoughts with their actions.
-focus their attention on what they want to listen to.
-improvement in adolescents’ memory and speed in thinking.
EMOTIONAL CHANGES
-more responsive to rewards and stress.
-more emotional and this makes them open to being hurt or in danger.
-boys are also sexually active and become more aggressive.
-girls become self-conscious because of the changes that are happening to them that gives
them a feeling of insecurity.
SOCIAL CHANGES
-Very self- conscious. They consider approval of friends and other adolescents or peers as
very important.
-Enjoy being with friends, so they stay longer with them after school.
-Friends who share the same interest with them.
-Adolescents who grow up with family members showing love, guidance and support for
each other are less likely to get involved with bad company and engage in fights, vandalism,
smoking , drinking, or drug sessions.
MORAL-SPIRITUAL
CHANGES
-begin analyzing themselves during this stage.
-analyze their strengths and weaknesses.
-learn that house rules imposed by their parents are there to promote order and harmony at
home.
-begin to distinguish between rules that are negotiable and those that are non-negotiable.
Non-negotiable rules, like smoking, are imposed because they are for their own good.
-boys and girls realize what they could become in the future.
REMEMBER!
-Changes that happen during puberty are normal to adolescents.
-You have to know and understand these changes so that they will not surprise nor scare
you.
-They are a normal part of your growth and development as a person.
-Learn how to cope with them in appropriate ways.
