Abstract
Life stages are typically classified into five stages: childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood (Super DE, Career choice and development: applying contemporary theories to practice, 2nd edn. Jossey-Bass, pp 197-261, 1990), and the environment surrounding individuals changes with their life stages. Although physical growth commences in the fetal stage, it proceeds postnatally through successive developmental phases, including infancy, early and middle childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The stage of adolescence is an important phase in human life during which individuals experience both physical and psychological changes. Preventing stunted growth and development in adolescents is essential for fostering healthy adults. This chapter outlines the stages and characteristics of adolescence. The terms "growth" and "development" are used widely. In this chapter, the "growth" is defined as the quantitative changes, specifically increases in the mass or length of bodily components. In contrast, the term "development" refers to qualitative changes, such as the functional enhancement of various bodily organs.
Keywords: Adolescence; Development; Growth; Scammon growth curve.
Β© 2026. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
References
-
- Super DE (1990) A life-span, life-space approach to career development. In: Brown D, Brooks L, Associates (eds) Career choice and development: applying contemporary theories to practice, 2nd edn. Jossey-Bass, pp 197β261
-
- Sport Centres, Canadian (2005) Long-term athlete development. Resource paper v. 2. Canadian sport for life
-
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (2025) School Health Statistics Survey. In: e-Stata. https://www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/files?page=1&layout=datalist&am... . Accessed 25 Apr 2025
-
- Kleanthous K, Papadimitriou DT, Gryparis A, Papaevangelou V, Papadimitriou A (2022) A mixed-longitudinal study of height velocity of Greek schoolchildren and the milestones of the adolescent growth spurt. Children (Basel) 9(6):790. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9060790 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
-
- Zheng W, Suzuki K, Yokomichi H, Sato M, Yamagata Z (2013) Multilevel longitudinal analysis of sex differences in height gain and growth rate changes in Japanese school-aged children. J Epidemiol 23(4):275β279. https://doi.org/10.2188/jea.je20120164 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical
Miscellaneous
