Teen Species Video Analysis

The body and mind undergo tremendous amounts of change in the late childhood and early adolescent years. The video series, Teen Species, describes in detail these changes. The series were filmed around a study that followed a group of adolescents over a two year period, documenting their physical, psychological, and social maturation during puberty. The videos took note of transitions in behavior and the need for conformity amongst teenagers, while also providing a biological cause for it all. The video series was broken up into two videos, one solely about the girls and the other focusing on the boys.
Girls typically start puberty before the boys and show the first outward signs, but the boys are only a few months behind usually. Puberty …show more content…
The majority will have started by the age of fifteen. The most important hormone for boys is testosterone. The amount of testosterone circulating in a boy’s blood stream will increase as they go through the stages of puberty. Boys do not show outward signs of puberty for some time after it has started, but the typical first change begins with the testicles and small wisps of pubic hair. Another very noticeable sign for boys is voice breaking. This is when the muscles over the vocal cords change and cause the voice to “break” and eventually deepen in pitch. Muscles will also change during puberty. Testosterone will cause the muscle fibers in muscle to broaden and become stronger. There are also more air sacs in the lungs, allowing more oxygen to be taken in and circulated in the blood. The upgrades done to both muscle and lungs will increase a boy’s stamina and strength. As puberty continues, at around fifteen, the male genitals will be fully developed. The testicles will have dropped, due to sperm production requiring cooler temperatures so the testes are designed to hang lower. The sperm production itself will be huge, with thousands of sperm being produced a second. Boys who develop later than their peers face possible emotional issues later on in life. Late developers are easier targets for bullying and their sense of masculinity can be …show more content…
For example, with the timeline in which bones grow. Bones grow starting with the hands and feet, then later the forearm and shins, then the arms and upper legs, and finally the chest and torso grow larger near the growth spurt’s end. Both genders will suffer from acne, which is a natural allergic reaction of the glands to the surging hormones of puberty. Another is sleep patterns. Teenagers of both sexes stay up later than they did as children. This is due to melatonin, the hormone that tells the brain it is night time, being released later at night then it was before as children. Meaning teenagers are not ready to sleep until even later. Since teenagers still need a full ten hours of sleep a night to properly function, lack of sleep is a huge attributor to teenage