Nursing 209

N209: Reproductive Health Study Guide

Chapter One: Human Sexuality Sexuality, as defined by the World Health Organization, is “a central aspect of being human throughout life encompasses sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy, and reproduction. Sexuality is experienced and expressed in thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, practices, roles, and relationships. While sexuality can include all of these dimensions, not all of them are always experienced or expressed. Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological, psychological, social, economic, political, cultural, legal, historical, religious, and spiritual factors.” • Sexuality: The physical, emotional, and sociocultural factors that affect sexual response. • Primary sexual characteristics: Any body structure directly related to reproduction that is present at birth (testes, penis, uterus, or vagina). • Puberty: The stage of adolescence in which an individual becomes physiologically capable of sexual reproduction. • Secondary sexual characteristics: Physical characteristics which are gender specific and appear at puberty but do not have a direct reproductive function (development of pubic hair, breast development, and voice changes). 1.1 Puberty • Onset: The onset of puberty is between the ages of 7-11 in girls, and 9 ½ -13 in boys. • Initiated by: The pituitary gland at the base of the brain releases hormones (LH and FSH) that signal a girl’s ovaries and a boy’s testicles to begin producing the female sex hormone, estrogen, and the male sex hormone, testosterone. This sex hormone then instructs reproductive structures (the ovaries, uterus, fallopian tubes, and vagina in girls; the testes, penis, vas deferens, and epididymis in boys) to develop or mature. The growing ovaries and testicles secrete increasing amounts of sex hormones, further fostering the process of puberty. • The whole process of puberty takes approximately 3-4 years. • Precocious puberty: This is when a child’s body begins changing into that of an adult (puberty) too soon. o For girls: Puberty is generally considered to be too early if it begins at age seven or eight. African-American and Hispanic girls tend to start puberty slightly earlier than Caucasian girls. o For boys: Puberty is generally considered too early before the age of nine years. • Rapidly progressing puberty: This is puberty that from start to finish is less than two years. Risk factors for precocious puberty include: o Girls are much more likely to develop precocious puberty o African-American children are affected more often than other races o Significant childhood obesity o Radiation treatment for cancer

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