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Pubertal Development in Boys

© Tara Kuther

"When I had my first wet dream, I had no idea what was going on. I thought I had wet my bed. It was a really strange feeling for me. I remember liking the dream, but I felt very embarrassed. I thought that maybe I had some sort of psychological problem. And who was I going to ask about it– my mother?"

These are the words of Chad, a seventeen-year-old boy interviewed by William Pollack in his book, Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood.

It's obvious that young people's bodies transform during adolescence. However, in discussions of puberty, girls' tend to receive the lion's share of attention. Parents and educators often fail to recognize the importance of pubertal development in boys. Boys are shortchanged in discussions about puberty and often are not informed about the changes their bodies will undergo during this transition. What is puberty and how is it expressed in boys? What can parents expect and how can they help their sons through this often difficult time?

Puberty is a period of rapid biological maturation that marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. It may seem as if it begins suddenly, but it is a gradual developmental process. The onset of puberty is triggered by parts of the brain and the endocrine system, which cause the concentration of sex hormones within the bloodstream to rise. No new hormones are released, nor are new body systems developed during puberty. Instead, the overall balance of hormones in the bloodstream changes, which prompt a myriad of physical changes.

For boys, puberty may begin as early as nine and one-half or as late as thirteen and one-half. The duration of puberty, or the interval between the first sign of puberty and its completion, can range from about two to five years. Thus, puberty is marked by variation so that some boys may develop much earlier or later than their peers, but are still "on time." Boys experience at least four types of changes during puberty: the growth spurt, changes in body composition as well as circulatory and respiratory systems, development of secondary sex characteristics, and the maturation of the primary sex characteristics.

For most boys, the growth spurt begins by about thirteen years of age, when they may grow as quickly as toddlers. The hands and feet are the first parts of the body to reach adult size. Then accelerated growth begins in the arms and legs, followed by torso and shoulder growth. These asynchronous growth patterns make most boys appear quite awkward during this stage.