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A teenager or teen is a person whose age is a number ending in "-teen" in the English language: that is to say, someone from the age of thirteen to the age of nineteen. The word is of recent origin, only having appeared in the mid 20th century. The term adolescent is roughly equivalent. And the stage is called adolescence. Tween and preteen are words describing a person in between 9 and 12.
During this period of life, most children go through the stages of puberty, although it often begins before a person has entered the teens. Most cultures regard people to have become adults at various ages of the teenage years.
Puberty, occuring during adolescence, is the stage in the human lifespan when a child begins to develop adult secondary sex characteristics as their hormone balance shifts towards an adult state. Briefly, this is caused by the hypothalamus gland that secretes hormones into the blood stream which trigger growth in the gonads: the girl's ovaries and the boy's testicles.
In women, the first menstrual period is called menarche.
Adolescence is a transitional stage developing from child to adult. That time invoves often a huge changes in body, psychology and career. In the onset of adolescence, children usually complete elementary school and enter to the secondary education such as middle school or high school. Maturity in body also leads children to sexual activities. But the trouble is they may not be emotionally and financially mature enough. Teenage pregnancy is usually due to this. They are also known to be emotionally vulnerable. Given that emotional immaturity, many countries consider those under a certain age to be incapable of engaging in sexual intercourse psycologically, even if they are physiologically capable. See age of consent. There is also at this age a greater probability of drug abuse and alcoholic or mental problems such as schizophrenia, eating disorders and depression. The emotional instability among some adolescents also sometimes causes crime.
In the past and still in some minor cultures, there is a celemony that celebrates adulthood typically occuring during adolescence. Genpuku in Japan was a celebration that showed a samurai was considered to be an adult. The age of genpuku varied roughly from 12 to 18. They usually changed their name from their birth name to an adult name and were started to be treated as an adult, such as separation from their mother or nanny. Some were given a territory to protect. No samurai was allowed to be married before genpuku. Females did not have genpuku or any equivalent ceremony.
In commerce, this generation is seen as an important target. Cellular phones, contemporary popular music, video games and clothes are often quite popular among this generation.
In many countries, those after the age of 18 are considered to be legally a responsible adult. Japan celebrates this in Janurary called coming of age (see Japanese calendar). Rights to vote in election are often given at this age or the age of 20. Those who are under the age of 18 or other similar age are often also considered incapable of crimial action. This is called defense of infancy.
Fiction about teenagers:
See also: