Scholars acknowledge the significant role of puberty in the risks for adverse outcomes. However, we lack understanding of the relevant social and structural factors at play. Current theoretical approaches to research on puberty were posited based on the experiences of White, middle-class girls who developed early or late, disregarding the…

Ideas about gender are changing. The UK and other countries are moving towards altering laws about gender recognition. Intersex people can be recognised as such in some countries. In the global North, nonbinary identities are becoming more common, and this is reflected in changes to recording systems. Referrals to child gender identity clinics are…

Recent research has suggested that the pubertal period provides an opportunity for recalibrating the stress-responsive systems in youth whose responses to stress have been altered by early adversity. Such recalibration may have cascading effects that affect brain and behavioral development. In this article, we consider a large, cross-species…

In recent years, opponents of the gender-affirmative approach to trans youth have argued that it bears homophobic roots and may be tantamount to conversion therapy. This argument is mistaken. In this article, I first argue that there is no evidence that social and/or medical transition is motivated by homophobia. Contrary to the critique's tacit…

Around 1900, interest in adolescence as a separate and crucial phase in human development increased among psychologists, educators and youth workers in the western world. This paper reviews the relation between adolescence and sexuality in the early twentieth century from a Dutch perspective. In the 1920s pedagogues started to study adolescence.…

The pubertal transition can present an interesting paradox for the young dancer, with growth and maturation leading to improvements in some areas such as strength and power and detriment to others, such as flexibility and co-ordination. These challenges highlight the need to consider the interactions among biological, psychological and…

Women's artistic gymnastics is commonly understood to require early entrance and intense training during childhood. Most gymnasts retire before reaching adulthood. In recent years, the gymnast population at the highest level has "aged." In this article, we adopt a socio-pedagogical perspective to explore the training contexts, pubertal…

Quality school-based sexuality education is important for all children and adolescents. The global trend towards students' earlier, longer, and technologically connected pubertal experience makes the timely provision of such education particularly significant. Quality international sexuality education documents are available for teachers…

Sociological contexts are key factors in education and schooling. Contemporary contexts of world-view, or "Weltanschauungen," such as human rights, public health, demographics, biosocial factors including earlier puberty and a developmentalist approach, and technological connectivity, warrant significant professional consideration by…

This paper analyses some contemporary educational contexts that teachers should consider for their puberty education programmes and/or curricula, for primary and secondary school students. The educational contexts addressed here include significant international puberty education framework documents, socio-biological factors including earlier…