Medical profession Essay

Adolescence roughly covers the age from thirteen to eighteen. Thus they are called the â€Å"teen years†. Psychologist, educators and the medical profession all agree that adolescence is the most difficult stage an individual may have to go through. It is a time of rapid changes in physical, cognitive and social behavior (Hurlock, 1982). At this age the teen undergo a transition from â€Å"innocence’ to â€Å"awareness†. He shifts from the egocentric world of childhood where his thinking is guided only by what is known or seen to a wide world within him and around him where he can logically think through its reality(Hilliard ,2003) The individual entered an age wherein suddenly there are so many things that he wants to know, understand and experience. It is at this time that primary (sex organs) and secondary sex characteristics start to develop. This includes growth of pubic hair, swelling of breast or first menstrual period for girls and penis growth for boys. Such changes are made possible due to biological change that are undergoing within their bodies. Both boys and girls began to release large quantities of sex hormones, estrogen for girls and androgen for boys. This hormonal change in turn may cause arousal and emotionality in both sexes as they began to figure there sexual values (Hurlock, 1982). Their physical and biological development may make teens overly â€Å"self-conscious† and they become strongly interested to the opposite sex. It is at this time that they first start dating (Huebner, 2000). Generally teens are primarily confronted with issues about sexuality that leads to confusion, chaos, rebellion and extra emotional sensitivity (Hurlock, 1982). Developmental theories had been formulated to explain this phenomenon. METHODOLOGY The purpose of questionnaire is to know a teen’s view and attitude about sex. It does not tackle other sexuality issues like homosexuality and transgender. In developing my questionnaire I keep three things in mind: I should not be biased, questions must be clear to avoid misunderstanding and that care should be taken so as not to offend or embarrass my respondents. I know that teens can be very sensitive and conscious of what people say about them and for most of them sex is a private matter. To meet the above criteria I was careful in not committing the following errors in designing a questionnaire: a) the respondent feels the information is â€Å"none of my business† (Do you masturbate? ), b) Question lack a standard of reference ( do you feel comfortable discussing sex with â€Å"people†? What people? Friends? Parents?), c) the respondent does not know the answer (How many teens in your school disagree about premarital sex? ), and d) the respondent does not remember the answer and therefore guesses (How many girls does your best friend dated last year? ). I first tested my questionnaire by letting one of my teen friends answer it. In this way I will know if the questions are clear and can be easily answered even when I am not around. I revised question/s that was declared not clear by my friend. The next task was to find a teen to be interviewed using the questionnaire. In order not to be biased I interviewed someone I do not know. In this way I have no idea regarding his sexual views. I went to a community park where all sorts and types of teens usually hangout during non-school days. I found a prospect in a group of boys who were dancing beside a stage. The person I interviewed volunteered to answer the questionnaire. He strikes me as a happy go lucky teen. He dresses nicely and smells good although he had been sweating because of their dance practice (he informed me that his group will be joining a dance contest in their community). He smiles easily and seems not to take my interview seriously at first.