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Conceptualizing Puberty as a Window of Opportunity for Impacting Health and Well‐Being Across the Life Span
Author(s) -
Dorn Lorah D.,
Hostinar Camelia E.,
Susman Elizabeth J.,
Pervanidou Panagiota
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of research on adolescence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.342
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1532-7795
pISSN - 1050-8392
DOI - 10.1111/jora.12431
Subject(s) - window of opportunity , life span , perspective (graphical) , psychology , developmental psychology , adolescent health , adolescent development , early adulthood , time perspective , process (computing) , young adult , gerontology , medicine , social psychology , computer science , nursing , real time computing , artificial intelligence , operating system
We promote the perspective that puberty, a separate biological process embedded in adolescence, is a “window of opportunity” for understanding and impacting health and development. First, we include a brief overview of pubertal change. Second, we propose a critical role for puberty in shaping life span health due to its connections with early life precursors, health issues and risks emerging during puberty, and health in young adulthood and beyond. Next, we discuss the importance of puberty measures in developmental research and suggest ways to make the science of puberty an important standalone research entity, as well as an essential component of studies conducted during adolescence. Finally, we discuss measurement issues, novel theoretical models of puberty, and the necessity of adopting an interdisciplinary perspective in research on puberty and in adolescence more broadly.