Puberty, Sexuality and the Self

by Karin Martin

Puberty, Sexuality and the Self considers the effects of puberty and teenage sexuality on adolescents. By analyzing interviews with 55 teenagers, Karin Martin finds that girls' self-esteem drops significantly more than boys' does at adolescence. While this finding is supported by previous studies, Martin picks up where these earlier studies leave off by focusing on girls' development and considering different experiences of puberty and sex as an explanation for girls' greater drop in self-esteem.

Puberty, Sexuality and the Self examines voice change, breast development, shaving, expectations of sex, the decision to have sex, experiences of sex and how boys and girls manage their emotions and selves throughout all of these new experiences. Comparing boys and girls at adolescence, Martin takes a qualitative look at puberty and sexuality, supporting her theory in the words of the adolescents themselves.

166 pages, Paperback

First published November 11, 1996

Reviews

[Rochelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fabulous! I read a chapter from it for my Human Development class and became interested enough to read the whole thing (this RARELY happens with readings for school). This thought-provoking chronicle of a research study done by the author demonstrates the powerful and very different experiences of puberty by boys and girls because of the societal response to changes occuring during this time. I recommend this book to parents, teachers (especially sex-ed instructors), therapists, and anyone else who works with adolescents.

[a]

It's always an excellent sign when a book about something that I think about all the time changes how I think about something. I should have read this book ten years ago, but I probably got more out of it now than I would have then. Martin's perspective provides a kind of critical psychoanalytic read that I found provocative. The book was published in 1996, and the work in the area since builds on her foundation, but it's an important foundation for its psychoanalytic angle, its treatment of boys as well as girls, and its chapter on puberty itself.

[Sam Grace]

One of four books described as "(a) presented a clearly justified, articulated, and rigorously implemented qualitative methodology, including information about data collection and data analysis procedures; (b) incorporated girls’ stories and voices extensively in reporting the findings; and (c) had been published in peer-reviewed books and/or journals."

[Rachel Nickens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written. Good example of how not to present qualitative research with overly extended block quotations.