Attitude of Adolescent Girls Towards Menstrual Discomforts and Role of Parents

Introduction

Puberty is a phase of development which is characterized by apparent somatic changes accompanied by psychological changes. After successfully adjusting to these changes and obstacles, pubertal boys and girls are permitted passage to the advanced stage of maturity and are given the rights and advantages necessary to assume the responsibilities of that age. Puberty is said to be an overlapping era since it encompasses both the end of childhood and the beginning of adolescent.

Puberty is an umbrella term that encompasses all physical and physiological changes that transform growing children into sexually active and fertile individuals through a roller coaster ride of dramatic changes. The timing of physical maturation varies widely across the population. Usually in girls, the first menstrual period typically occurs around age 12; although in some cases it starts as early as 8 to 9 years while for others it comes later in their late teen years. Similarly the span of puberty also varies greatly: eighteen months to six years in girls and two to five years in boys. For both genders the underlying reason behind this phenomenon is the rise in the levels of growth and sex hormones that leads to apparent increase in body height and weight and result into growth spurt that dominate the first half of puberty.

The three discernable sub stages of puberty are; Prepubescent, Pubescent and Post pubescent Stage: ‘Pre-Pubescent stage’overlaps the closing year or two of childhood, the secondary sex characteristics begin to appear but the reproductive organs are not yet completely mature while ‘Pubescent stage’ draws a line between childhood and puberty now menarche in girls and the first nocturnal emissions in boys is reported. Moreover ‘Post-Pubescent stage’ overlaps the initial one or two years of the beginning of adolescence when the secondary sex characteristics are clearly developed and the sex organs are mature enough to function. Puberty is a multifaceted phenomenon having several transitions like biological, cognitive, psychological etc.

Biological transition, Pituitary gland situated in hypothalamus regulates endocrine system and produces two hormones the growth hormone and gonadotropic or sex hormone which are responsible for pubertal changes. The growth hormone determines the individual’s body size; the latter stimulates the gonads to increase activity which help the sex organs to function in fully mature way and develop the secondary sexual characteristics like pubic hair, deepening of voice etc. to appear. The interaction between the gonadotropic hormone and the gonads continues for the entire reproductive life of individual and gradually decreases as women and men age in the form of the menopause and climacteric.

Another component to the passage to adolescence is a cognitive transition. In comparison to youngsters, who prefer to focus about one component at a time, adolescents think in more mature, logical, abstract, and usually more complicated ways. Adolescents are able to take multiple perspectives in solving problems; their approach is more differentiated and systematically organized. Individuals grow more capable of thinking about what is conceivable throughout adolescence than they are as children, rather than confining their thinking to what is actual. Adolescents may examine what they see against a backdrop of what is possible—they can think hypothetically—whereas children's thinking is focused on the here and now, on objects and events that they can directly experience. Adolescent’s capacity to think abstractly enables them to use sophisticated thinking and logical processes to solve social and ideological problems. This is demonstrated by the adolescent’s increased ability and interest in thinking about interpersonal relationships, politics, philosophy, religion, and morality—topics that include abstract concepts such as friendship, faith, democracy, fairness, and honesty—as well as the adolescent's increased facility and interest in thinking about these topics. Another distinction in cognition is that, rather than being restricted to a single problem, thinking is becoming increasingly diverse. Adolescents have a more complex perception of the world than children. Children tend to concentrate on just one factor at a time. Adolescents use more varied and complicated language to describe themselves and others, and they find it easier to see events from several perspectives.