Puberty is the time of life when people develop physically and sexually so that they can have children. It is the time when male and female sex characteristics appear and changes in the sexual organs occur.
Puberty is the entire process of changes affecting the body and its hormones that accompany sexual maturation. In general, it starts at age 10 in girls and at age 11 in boys.
| Author | Amy Fackler, MA |
| Author | Lila Havens |
| Editor | Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA |
| Associate Editor | Michele Cronen |
| Associate Editor | Terrina Vail |
| Primary Medical Reviewer | Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine |
| Primary Medical Reviewer | Michael J. Sexton, MD - Pediatrics |
| Specialist Medical Reviewer | Louis Pellegrino, MD - Developmental Pediatrics |
| Last Updated | March 22, 2006 |
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