Page 112 - Understanding Psychology

Figure 4.4 Sexual Growth
During puberty, boys and girls begin to produce higher levels of hor- mones. Those hormones spark sexual development. How have sexual attitudes changed in the past 30 years?
98 Chapter 4 / Adolescence
age. Late-maturing girls tend to be less quarrelsome and may get along with their peers more easily. In their late teens, girls who matured early may be more popular and have a more favorable image of themselves than girls who matured slowly.
Why does physical growth have such powerful psychological effects? According to one widely held theory, the psychological reactions to physical growth may be the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy. For exam- ple, the boy who believes he does not meet his culture’s physical ideal may think less of himself and not pursue success as doggedly as the next person. His belief actually helps bring about the failure he feared.
SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
As we noted earlier, adolescence is accompanied by puberty, which is when individuals mature sexually. The physical changes that occur are accompanied by changes in behavior. Adolescence is also the time when an individual develops attitudes about sex and expectations about the gender role he or she will fill. Early sexual maturity and cultural patterns of sexual behaviors have changed from one generation to the next gener- ation. For example, the average age of marriage is 26 years, about three or four years later than it was in the 1950s and about 12 years after sexual maturation (New York Times Almanac, 2001).
Sexual Attitudes
Attitudes affect the way we feel about sex and the way we respond sexually. Around the world there are wide variations in what children are told about appropriate sexual behavior and how they respond. In some societies children are kept in the dark about sex until just before they are married, whereas in others preadolescent children are encouraged
For Better or For Worse reprinted by permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc.