ADOLESCENCE by Mary Wood-Allen, M.D.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 7, 1903

ADOLESCENCE

By Mary Wood-Allen, M.D.

BY MARY WOOD-ALLEN, M.D.

I. Physical Significance.

The period of adolescence may be considered to be the years between fourteen and twenty-one, altho its beginning may be several years earlier than fourteen and its prolongation for some years after twenty-one. Puberty is the marked entrance into this land of adolescence, or youth, and its average age is fourteen.

Before this the individual is a child, and if natural in his development will not have the mental or physical characteristics of sex. In truth the normal child is of the neuter gender. The little boy and girl, if left to themselves, will play together with no recognition of difference. They will quarrel as readily with each other as will boys and boys or girls and girls. The boy will manifest no chivalry, the girl no coquetry. If children manifest these impulses it is because of some education in that direction. We are now speaking of children who are perfectly natural, who have not been trained not to do certain things because they are girls, or have not been excused for doing certain things because they are boys. We little realize how early in life we begin to put the burden of sex on the woman-child and teach the liberty of sex to the man-child.

We are now speaking of children who have grown up with no suggestions from elders or superiors which would tend to make them conscious of sex, and we find that the boy is no more gentle and considerate of his girl companions than of the boys with whom he plays and the girl no more shy or sentimental than he.

But as they approach the boundaries of that mysterious land of the “teens” there comes a change. Without in the least understanding why, the boy begins to feel embarrassed when with girls. A new timidity takes possession of him and at the same time a new pleasure in their companionship. He begins to desire to gain favor in the eyes of the very girls whom he has hitherto treated most cavalierly.

They seem new and wonderful creatures, and in an awkward and embarrassed way he endeavors to show some courtesy and gallantry.

The girl is also becoming self-conscious and shy. Her manner loses much of its crudeness, and it is seen that she is spontaneously changing from the hoyden to the lady.

If the adults who surround these youths are wise they will comprehend the gravity of all these signs and will conduct themselves accordingly; but alas, too many who should understand these portents fail to do so, and by their unwisdom precipitate natural development and thereby produce deplorable results, from which the young people suffer, and for which they are unjustly blamed.

In order to act with wisdom, parents should understand the physical, mental, and moral significance of adolescence; should realize that it is

A Crisis of Grave Import to Boy or Girl.

Most mothers do realize that this is to the girl a critical time, and they watch with much anxiety the physical unfolding of their daughters, guard their health, have patience with their moods and tempers, and overlook many perversities, with the feeling that “she will be better by and by.”

Few parents, however, realize that this crisis to the boy is equally grave, is marked by physical changes of equal importance, that the crisis is for him of even graver import, because the inner forces work with greater energy and the outer temptations come with stronger power.

What is the physical significance of adolescence? What is its influence upon the child? What are its peculiar dangers, and how can we guard against them? These are the queries with which the thoughtful parent will be oppressed as he sees his children entering upon this stage of development.

The physical significance means first the endowment of the child with new powers. He is receiving a wondrous gift. Up to this time of life the whole organism of the child has been occupied with his nutrition and growth. He has naturally lived in the domain of self, of egoism. Now he has reached the stage of development where he is to prepare for the domain of altruism. Hitherto he has been linked only to the present and the past. Now he is to become a possible link to the future. He has received his gift of life from those who have gone before. He is now to be endowed with the power of transmission of life, a wonderful and holy gift which should sanctify this young creature in our eyes and in his own. Think of this sacred period when the youth receives from the All-Father this gift of semi-creative power, the greatest power of God himself, and let us bow in silent awe before this miracle of transformation. (Gen. 1:27.)

The development of reproductive power in the individual means also the endowment with new life for himself. In the first years of this process the child takes on a wondrous physical growth. All the processes of life are quickened. Not only is there increase in height, but in fulness of outline and in breadth of figure. The voice deepens, the eye takes on a new lustre; in the boy the beard starts, and in both sexes the body changes to its distinctive masculine or feminine contour.

Physical Changes.

So rapid is the physical growth that often there is not vitality enough to keep pace with it and the child manifests an unwonted indolence of both mind and body. Sometimes the muscles grow faster than the bones, and awkwardness ensues; or the bones grow more rapidly and stretch the muscles, and there are so-called “growing pains.”

Along with these evidences of development new fluids are secreted and eliminated, and unless the boy or girl is wisely instructed a needless terror is experienced; a terror which sometimes leads to unwise conduct that may result in invalidism; or a curiosity which, seeking the bread of true knowledge, is given the serpent of sinful knowledge; and physical and moral destruction follows.

Each child should receive from parent or friend the instruction which will prepare him for adolescence, which will make clear its physical significance, so that he may escape the dangers which lie in wait for the unwary and ignorant, and have a comprehension of his true value to the race. Study 1 Cor. 3:16, 17; 6:19, 20; Prov. 1:8, 9; 2:10-22; 4:1-27; Ps. 24:3, 4; 2 Tim. 2:22.