Young Teen Child

Young Teen Child

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Medical Author:

John Mersch, MD, FAAP

Medical Editor:

David Perlstein, MD, MBA, FAAP

What are milestones in academic development for teens
12-17 years of age?
What are milestones in psychological and emotional development for
teens 12-17 years of age?
What are milestones in physical development for teens 12-17 years of age?
Where can parents find tips for caring for a teen 12-17 years of age?
How can parents ensure the safety of their teen 12-17 years of age?
How can parents help their teen deal with bullying?

Medically reviewed by Margaret Walsh, MD; American Board of Pediatrics

REFERENCES:
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Bradley, Michael J. Yes, Your Parents Are Crazy! A Teen Survival Guide .
Gig Harbor, WA: Harbor Press, 2004.

Bradley, Michael J. Yes, Your Teen Is Crazy! Loving Your Kid Without Loosing Your Mind . Gig Harbor, WA: Harbor Press, 2003.

Bullying Statistics. .

United States.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Sexual and Reproductive Health of Persons Aged 10-24 Years -- United
States, 2002-2007." July 17, 2009. .

United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance -- United States, 200p." MMWR 59.SS-5 June 4, 2010. .

Acne is a localized skin inflammation as a result of overactivity of oil glands at the
base of hair follicles. This inflammation, depending on its location, can take the form
of a superficial pustule (contains pus), a pimple, a deeper cyst, congested pores, whiteheads, or blackheads. Treatments vary depending on the severity of the acne.
ADHD is a common disorder seen in children. Parents can learn tips and techniques to teach children life skills, coping mechanisms, and better ways to learn with ADHD.
Bone cancer is a rare type of cancer that occurs in cells that make up the bones. Primary bone cancer that arises in bone cells is different than metastatic bone cancer, which is cancer that arises in another part of the body and then spreads to the bones. Hereditary and environmental factors likely contribute to the risk of bone cancer. Signs and symptoms of bone cancer may include pain, the presence of a mass or lump, and bone fractures. There are different types of bone cancer (osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, pleomorphic sarcoma, fibrosarcoma). Treatment for bone cancer may include surgical removal of the tumor, chemotherapy, radiation, and/or a stem cell transplant. The prognosis for bone cancer depends on the type of cancer and the extent of spread.
Discover the warning signs of binge eating disorder, anorexia and bulimia. Read about the symptoms and causes of eating disorders as well as treatment options.
Gum disease is caused by plaque and may result in tooth loss without proper treatment. Symptoms and signs of gum disease (gingivitis or periodontal disease) include receding gums, bad breath and pocket formation between the teeth and gums. Treatment depends upon the stage of the gum disease, how you responded to earlier treatments, and your overall health.
Menstruation (menstrual cycle) is also referred to as a "period." When a woman menstruates, the lining of the uterus is shed. This shedding of the uterine linking is the menstrual blood flow. The average menstrual cycle is 28 days. There can be problems with a woman's period, including heavy bleeding, pain, or skipped periods. Causes of these problems may be amenorrhea (lack of a period), menstrual cramps (dysmenorrhea), or abnormal vaginal or uterine bleeding. There are a variety of situations in which a girl or woman should see a doctor about her menstrual cycle.
Obesity is the state of being well above one's normal weight. A person has traditionally been
considered to be obese if they are more than 20% over their ideal weight.
That ideal weight must take into account the person's height, age, sex, and
build.
Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) refers to diseases of the blood vessels (arteries and veins) located outside the heart and brain. While there are many causes of peripheral vascular disease, doctors commonly use the term peripheral vascular disease to refer to peripheral artery disease (peripheral arterial disease, PAD), a condition that develops when the arteries that supply blood to the internal organs, arms, and legs become completely or partially blocked as a result of atherosclerosis.
Peripheral artery disease symptoms include intermittent
leg pain while walking,
leg pain at rest, numbness in the legs or feet, and poor wound healing in
the legs or feet.
Treatment for peripheral artery disease include lifestyle measures, medication, angioplasty, and surgery.
Signs and symptoms of pregnancy vary by stage (trimester). The earliest pregnancy symptom is typically a missed period, but others include breast swelling and tenderness, nausea and sometimes vomiting, fatigue, and bloating. Second trimester symptoms include backache, weight gain, itching, and possible stretch marks. Third trimester symptoms are additional weight gain, heartburn, hemorrhoids, swelling of the ankles, fingers, and face, breast tenderness, and trouble sleeping. Eating a healthy diet, getting a moderate amount of exercise, also are recommended for a healthy pregnancy. Information about the week by week growth of your baby in the womb are provided.
The time when boys and girls begin the process of sexual maturation is called puberty. During this time, both sexes undergo a series of biological changes that include a rapid increase in height, bone growth, weight increase, the growth of pubic hair, breast development and the onset of menstruation in girls, and testicle, penis, and muscle enlargement in boys.
Take the Puberty In Girls Quiz to learn the myths and facts about normal adolescent growth and development for teens and tweens.
Want to know how to get rid of blackheads? Discover tips on clogged pores, sunscreen SPF and how to remove makeup for different skin types like dry skin and oily skin in these health tips for teens.
Here are tips on dealing with teen dating, sexting, cyber bullying, mean girls, periods, bad breath, and more as health experts explain when and how to get help.
Children undergo various changes in terms of physical, speech, intellectual and cognitive development gradually until adolescence. The five stages of child development include the newborn, infant, toddler, preschool and school-age stages.

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healthy kids health center / healthy kids a-z list / teen child development center / teen: child development article

If there is ever a time for parental self-doubt and second-guessing, the
teenage years are that period. Efforts to provide guidance and insight are
commonly rejected. Attempts at dialogue and discussion are dismissed with either
rolling of the eyes or monosyllabic grunts of acknowledgement. Even the ability
to physically intimidate wanes rapidly as many a growth spurt rockets the
adolescent upward in stature past his/her
parents. And yet, perhaps similar to
a young toddler, it is at this time that
children need more support and
supervision, since like the 2-year-old, a strong ego coupled with an impulsive
nature can be a volatile combination.
The high school years are a time of development and maturation. Children are
developing the skills necessary for college or the general work force. As the
11th and 12th grades are nearing completion, the teen should be comfortable
making oral presentations. The ability to absorb and analyze information and
then synthesize and present persuasively either a supporting position or offer a
counter argument is crucial to survival in the adult world. Eye-to-eye contact
and the ability to read the audience instead of talking into a handheld stack
of 3 x 5 cards is a difficult, yet important, capability.
In order to successfully master this art of persuasion, it is beneficial for
the student to have an exposure to a broad array of literary forms -- poetry,
fiction, autobiography, etc. As a result of this exposure, teenagers broaden
their vocabulary skills and improve their presentation styles, using the simile
and metaphor more broadly to express their ideas. The ability to efficiently
and effectively research reference works, either in the traditional technique of
library study or via online sources, is critical.
In addition to effective oral presentations, mastering the art of written
argument is equally important. Proper use of syntax, vocabulary, and varying
literary style to entice the reader are all-important skills that should be
mastered. The successful adolescent will learn the mechanics of revising and
editing a draft in order to produce a final copy.
A formal analysis of the budding adolescent psychological and emotional
maturation process is academically very impressive. During a few short years, the
teen develops the ability to reason abstractly and formulate and consider multiple
hypotheses, all in the realm of a thought process that is less concrete, enabling
the teen to see the grays and not just view the world in terms of black and
white. The classroom captures these traits by study of more conceptual and
logical math skills (algebra and geometry) and expository written compositions
("compare and contrast").
A major goal of the adolescent years is the development of autonomy and
independence from parents. The establishment of a personal identity (but always
within the safety net of their peer group) is paramount. Unfortunately, the
notorious sense of invincibility and immortality characteristic of this age
group promotes high-risk behaviors. The vulnerability to peer pressure,
often unstable emotions, and a frequently overly romanticized view of their world
only amplify many a parent's anxiety level.
Alcohol is the most frequently used drug by teenagers in the United States. Significant statistics regarding alcohol use in teens include that about half of junior high and senior high school students drink alcohol on a monthly basis, and 14% of teens have been intoxicated at least once in the past year. Nearly 8% of teens who drink say they drink at least five or more alcoholic drinks in a row (binge drink).
Puberty is the time at which a growing boy or girl begins the process of
sexual maturation, and the onset varies among individuals.
Puberty involves a series of physical stages or steps that
lead to the achievement of fertility and the development of the so-called
secondary sex characteristics, the physical features associated with adult males
and females (such as the growth of pubic hair). While puberty involves a series
of biological, or physical, transformations, the process can also have an effect
on the psychosocial and emotional development of the adolescent.
Puberty usually occurs in girls between the ages of 10 and 14, while in boys
it generally occurs later, between the ages of 12 and 16.
Adolescent girls reach puberty today at earlier ages than were ever recorded
previously. Nutritional and other environmental influences may be responsible
for this change. For example, the average age of the onset of
menstrual
periods in girls was 15 in 1900. By the 1990s, this average had dropped to 12 and a half years of age.
The sexual development of puberty has a typical pattern in both boys and girls, with a generally predictable sequence of changes.
Other physical changes in the body that occur during puberty include:

One of the major challenges of shepherding teens through these tempestuous
times is finding and following the fine line of protection versus
nonintervention. There are obvious times when parental authority may be
considered absolute (from "any C's and no car keys" to "you can't go to the party
where alcohol is served, even if you plan on being the designated driver"). Harder
to accomplish is to allow academic failure -- many a parent will try to intercede
on their child's behalf when it clear that he/she has put out minimal effort and
has the grades to reflect such a limited commitment. Most counselors would
prefer a high school student to learn that there are academic consequences than
to delay discovering this truism until college. Such a lesson learned will be
carried into the post-academic world of hard knocks, where performance is
measured in successful completion of the task and not by merely good intentions.

The majority of teens are spending progressively longer periods of time in
the cyber world. Facebook and other social networking sites, text/instant messaging
and Internet sites of dubious value may all steal time from direct social
interaction. Worse yet is the possibility of falling victim to notorious schemes
and those who prey upon the naïve Internet surfer.

During the high school years, it is reasonable for the older teen to refine
the skills necessary for money management (earning spending money, living on a
budget, handling a credit card) as well as food preparation (beyond the
microwave) and general home economics issues -- how to make a bed, do laundry,
clean an apartment (to avoid insect infestation), handle basic financial
obligations (pay for the gas they use, pay for their cell phone monthly fees,
etc.). After all, they will shortly be flying the coop.

Parents of teens growing up in the 1960s were constantly worrying about the proposed lifestyle of the time..."sex, drugs , and rock 'n' roll." Those teens have now become parents of teenagers themselves, and the irony that the same concerns have come full circle is not lost on many.

A 1977 study commissioned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated that approximately half of all high school students self-reported having had one consensual sexual intercourse.

Results from the 2013 national YRBS indicated that many high school students are engaged in priority health-risk behaviors associated with the leading causes of death among persons aged 10–24 years in the United States.

During the 30 days before the survey, 41.4% of high school students nationwide among the 64.7% who drove a car or other vehicle during the 30 days before the survey had texted or e-mailed while driving, 34.9% had drunk alcohol, and 23.4% had used marijuana .

During the 12 months before the survey, 14.8% had been electronically bullied, 19.6% had been bullied on school property, and 8.0% had attempted suicide .

Many high school students nationwide are engaged in sexual risk behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancies and STIs, including HIV infection. Nearly half (46.8%) of students had ever had sexual intercourse, 34.0% had had sexual intercourse during the 3 months before the survey (i.e., currently sexually active), and 15.0% had had sexual intercourse with four or more persons during their life. Among currently sexually active students, 59.1% had used a condom during their last sexual intercourse.

Results from the 2013 national YRBS also indicate many high school students are engaged in behaviors associated with chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease , cancer , and diabetes . During the 30 days before the survey, 15.7% of high school students had smoked cigarettes and 8.8% had used smokeless tobacco .

During the 7 days before the survey, 5.0% of high school students had not eaten fruit or drunk 100% fruit juices and 6.6% had not eaten vegetables. More than one-third (41.3%) had played video or computer games or used a computer for something that was not school work for 3 or more hours per day on an average school day.

In addition, this same publication outlined that the majority (72%) of deaths that occur in adolescents resulted from four preventable causes:

The study also concluded that it was not all bad news and that "since 1991, the prevalence of many health risk behaviors among high school students nationwide had decreased."

Health issues play a major factor in the safety aspects of teenagers. Drug experimentation and suboptimal nutrition (fad diets, limited calcium intake, skipping breakfast, etc.) are risky behaviors which may pay out both short-term and long-term consequences. Likewise, an unrealistic body image concern contributes to the rising incidence of eating disorders ( bulimia and anorexia nervosa) and of the use of performance-enhancing supplements (for example, androgenic steroids). Equally of concern is the obesity epidemic in this age range (16% are overweight or obese , and 30% describe themselves as overweight ). Studies have clearly demonstrated that the likelihood of an overweight/ obese teen successfully losing excess weight and maintaining their healthy weight is less than 10%; thus, the vast majority of overweight/obese teens will remain so during their adult lifetime. As such, the secondary effects (endocrine, cardiovascular , orthopedic, etc.) have caused some researchers to predict that the current teen generation may be the first in many that may not have a longer life span than their parents.

Alcohol is the most frequently abused drug in the United States -- surpassing tobacco ( nicotine ) and illicit drugs combined.

The 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that among hi
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