性行为的发展

性行为的发展阶段

青春期（adolescence）是青少年（puberty）与成年之间的生命时期。在过去的数个世纪里，这个时期已经变得相当地长了，可是纵观人类历史的大多数时期，青春期相对要短。的确，甚至当今时代，在世界上不同的地方的一些传统的前工业化文化体系里，并没有我们当代观念里公认的青春期。与之不同的是，那时的人们利用所谓的成人典礼，给刚刚达到青少年期的孩子授予成人的身份。在西方国家，一些古代的典礼遗存下来了，但是已经丧失了最初的许多涵义：例如，犹太教成人礼和基督教坚信礼是现在最具象征意义的仪式。它们由教会（用来）重申宗教信仰和突显对信仰的承诺，但是，这些仪式并没有其它重要的社会价值。年轻人依旧是青少年，仍然服从于所有类型的约束，并没有成人的权力。甚至，他们在“成家立业”之前，可能要花费许多年的时间来完成学业，找到自己的住宅和在经济上自立。换一句话说，青少年期常常开始于一个人十多岁的早期和终止于数年之后；青春期随青少年期而始，并且在当今有非常充分的理由持续上十年或更久。

青少年期是发育出次级性征和发展成有生殖能力的生理成熟的过程。与之大不相同的是，青春期被解释成一个通向公民身份的心理与社会成熟的过程。青少年期的性行为发展是一种生物现象，而青春期的性行为发展是一种文化现象。

还需要补充一点，这种延续的人生发展期也是性别角色行为和性欲行为继续发展的时候；同时，此期还是生殖行为可能成为另一个非常重要主题的时候。以下将详细讨论这个内容。

成人仪式符号(从左至右)：1.非洲部落成人典礼佩戴的面具。2.古埃及青年男性的包皮环切术。3.犹太教成人礼(Jewish bar mitzvah)。4.基督教坚信礼。                                                                                     

Symbols of Initiation (from the left) : 1. Mask worn during a tribal initiation ceremony in Africa.2. Circumcision of a male youth in ancient Egypt 3. Jewish bar mitzvah 4. Christian confirmation.

Stages of Development

Adolescence

Adolescence (lat. adolescere: to grow up) is the period of life between puberty and adulthood. In the last several centuries, this period has become rather extended, but throughout most of human history it was relatively short. Indeed, even today some traditional, pre-industrial cultures in various parts of the world do not recognize an adolescence in our modern sense. Instead, they use so-called initiation rites to confer the status of adults on their children as soon as they reach puberty. Some of these ancient rites have survived in modern Western countries, but have lost much of their original meaning: The Jewish bar mitzvah and the Christian confirmation, for example, are now mostly symbolic ceremonies. They reaffirm the faith and signalize acceptance by the community, but they have no other important social consequences. The young people remain adolescents, subject to all sorts of restrictions and without the rights of adults. Indeed, it may take many years before they can “stand on their own two feet”, complete their studies, find their own living quarters, and become financially self-supporting. In other words: Puberty normally begins in a person's early teens and ends a few years later. Adolescence begins with puberty and today may very well last a decade or more.
Puberty is a process of physical maturation which produces the secondary sexual characteristics and leads to fertility. In contrast, adolescence is better described as a process of psychological and social maturation which leads to full citizenship. Puberty is a biological phenomenon, adolescence a cultural one.
Still, this extended period is also a time when gender role behavior and erotic behavior continue to develop and when reproductive behavior may become another very important issue. The following sections will discuss this in detail.