Spermarche

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Spermarche, also known as semenarche, is the time at which a male experiences his first ejaculation. [1] It is considered to be the counterpart of menarche in females. [2] [3] Depending on upbringing, cultural differences, and prior sexual knowledge, males may have different reactions to spermarche, ranging from fear to excitement. [4] Spermarche is one of the first events in the life of a male leading to sexual maturity. It occurs at the time when the secondary sex characteristics are just beginning to develop. [5] Researchers have had difficulty determining the onset of spermarche because it is reliant on self-reporting. Other methods to determine it have included the examination of urine samples to determine the presence of spermatozoa. The presence of sperm in urine is referred to as spermaturia. [3]

Contents

Age of occurrence

Research on the subject has varied for the reasons stated above, as well as changes in the average age of pubescence, which has been decreasing at an average rate of three months a decade. [6] Research from 2010 indicated that the average age for spermarche in the U.S. was 12–16. [7] In 2015, researchers in China determined that the average age for spermarche in China was 14. [8] Historical data from countries including Nigeria [9] and the United States also suggest 14 as an average age. [10]

As a function of precocious puberty

Puberty onset before the age of 9 in males is considered medically abnormal, and is defined as precocious puberty; Research on both organic and ideopathic precocious puberty in males has described puberty onset as early as nine months old, [11] [12] as semenarche has a wide range of onset within puberty (with some research indicating spermatogenesis in some cases in early pubertal development) [13] it is difficult to determine a minimum age for spermarche should one exist. [11] [13] Research on the subject, though lacking has described ejaculation in males as young as six years old. [14]

Context

Various studies have examined the circumstances in which first ejaculation occurred. Most commonly this occurred via a nocturnal emission, with a significant number experiencing semenarche via masturbation, which is very common at that stage. Less commonly, the first ejaculation occurred during sexual intercourse with a partner. [15] [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adolescence</span> Human transition from puberty to adult

Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood. Adolescence is usually associated with the teenage years, but its physical, psychological or cultural expressions may begin earlier or end later. Puberty typically begins during preadolescence, particularly in females. Physical growth and cognitive development can extend past the teens. Age provides only a rough marker of adolescence, and scholars have not agreed upon a precise definition. Many experts in human development such as G. Stanley Hall and Laurence Steinberg and many others, as well as several organizations such as the World Happiness Report (WHR) and The Royal Children's Hospital that work with adolescents, define this period as beginning at age 10 and ending at age 25, while an article published by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in the journal Nature demonstrates that brain development continues beyond adolescence and does not stop until around age 30. The World Health Organization defines adolescence as the phase of life from ages 10 to 19.

Development of the human body is the process of growth to maturity. The process begins with fertilization, where an egg released from the ovary of a female is penetrated by a sperm cell from a male. The resulting zygote develops through mitosis and cell differentiation, and the resulting embryo then implants in the uterus, where the embryo continues development through a fetal stage until birth. Further growth and development continues after birth, and includes both physical and psychological development that is influenced by genetic, hormonal, environmental and other factors. This continues throughout life: through childhood and adolescence into adulthood.

Menarche is the first menstrual cycle, or first menstrual bleeding, in female humans. From both social and medical perspectives, it is often considered the central event of female puberty, as it signals the possibility of fertility. Girls experience menarche at different ages. Having menarche occur between the ages of 9–14 in the West is considered normal.

Preadolescence is a stage of human development following middle childhood and preceding adolescence. It commonly ends with the beginning of puberty. Preadolescence is commonly defined as ages 9–12 ending with the major onset of puberty. It may also be defined as simply the 2-year period before the major onset of puberty. Preadolescence can bring its own challenges and anxieties.

In medicine, precocious puberty is puberty occurring at an unusually early age. In most cases, the process is normal in every aspect except the unusually early age and simply represents a variation of normal development. There is early development of secondary sex characters and gametogenesis also starts earlier. Precocious puberty is of two types: true precocious puberty and pseudoprecocious puberty. In a minority of children with precocious puberty, the early development is triggered by a disease such as a tumor or injury of the brain.

Delayed puberty is when a person lacks or has incomplete development of specific sexual characteristics past the usual age of onset of puberty. The person may have no physical or hormonal signs that puberty has begun. In the United States, girls are considered to have delayed puberty if they lack breast development by age 13 or have not started menstruating by age 15. Boys are considered to have delayed puberty if they lack enlargement of the testicles by age 14. Delayed puberty affects about 2% of adolescents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanner scale</span> Physical development scale of children, adolescents, and adults

The Tanner scale is a scale of physical development as pre-pubescent children transition into adolescence, and then adulthood. The scale defines physical measurements of development based on external primary and secondary sex characteristics, such as the size of the breasts, length of the penis, volume of the testes, and growth of pubic hair. This scale was first quantified in 1969 by James Tanner, a British pediatrician, after a two-decade-long study following the physical changes in girls undergoing puberty.

Adrenarche is an early stage in sexual maturation that happens in some higher primates, typically peaks at around 20 years of age, and is involved in the development of pubic hair, body odor, skin oiliness, axillary hair, sexual attraction/sexual desire/increased libido and mild acne. During adrenarche the adrenal glands secrete increased levels of weak adrenal androgens, including dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), and androstenedione (A4), but without increased cortisol levels. Adrenarche is the result of the development of a new zone of the adrenal cortex, the zona reticularis. Adrenarche is a process related to puberty, but distinct from hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis maturation and function.

Pubarche refers to the first appearance of pubic hair at puberty. It is one of the earliest physical changes of puberty and can occur independently of complete puberty. It is usually the second sign of puberty, after thelarche in females and gonadarche in males.

Gonadarche refers to the earliest gonadal changes of puberty. In response to pituitary gonadotropins, the ovaries in females and the testes in males begin to grow and increase the production of the sex steroids, especially estradiol and testosterone. The ovary and testis have receptors, follicle cells and leydig cells, respectively, where gonadotropins bind to stimulate the maturation of the gonads and secretion of estrogen and testosterone. Certain disorders can result in changes to timing or nature of these processes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thelarche</span> Beginning of development of the breasts in the female

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Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a female, the testicles in a male. In response to the signals, the gonads produce hormones that stimulate libido and the growth, function, and transformation of the brain, bones, muscle, blood, skin, hair, breasts, and sex organs. Physical growth—height and weight—accelerates in the first half of puberty and is completed when an adult body has been developed. Before puberty, the external sex organs, known as primary sexual characteristics, are sex characteristics that distinguish males and females. Puberty leads to sexual dimorphism through the development of the secondary sex characteristics, which further distinguish the sexes.

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References

  1. ↑ "APA Dictionary of Psychology". dictionary.apa.org. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  2. ↑ Adolescence, E. Atwater, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 3rd edition, 1992. ISBN   978-0-13-007469-0
  3. 1 2 Kuhn, Howard E. (1989). "The Onset of Sperm Production in Pubertal Boys". American Journal of Diseases of Children. 143 (2): 190. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1989.02150140080024.
  4. ↑ Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: A Cultural Approach, Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 3rd edition, 2006. ISBN   978-0-13-195071-9
  5. ↑ Nielsen, C. Thøger; Skakkebæk, Niels E.; Richardson, David W.; Darling, Janet A. B.; Hunter, William M.; Jørgensen, Merete; Nielsen, Aage; Ingerslev, Olaf; Keiding, Niels; Müller, Jørn (1986). "Onset of the Release of Spermatozoa (Spermarche) in Boys in Relation to Age, Testicular Growth, Pubic Hair, and Height". The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 62 (3): 532–535. doi:10.1210/jcem-62-3-532. PMID   3944237.
  6. ↑ Eckert-Lind, Camilla; Busch, Alexander S.; Petersen, Jørgen H.; Biro, Frank M.; Butler, Gary; Bräuner, Elvira V.; Juul, Anders (2020-04-06). "Worldwide Secular Trends in Age at Pubertal Onset Assessed by Breast Development Among Girls: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis". JAMA Pediatrics. 174 (4): e195881. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.5881. ISSN   2168-6203. PMC   7042934 . PMID   32040143.
  7. ↑ Laron, Zvi (2010). "Age at first ejaculation (spermarche)--the overlooked milestone in male development". Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews: PER. 7 (3): 256–257. ISSN   1565-4753. PMID   20526238.
  8. ↑ Song, Y.; Ma, J.; Wang, H.-J.; Wang, Z.; Lau, P. W. C.; Agardh, A. (October 2016). "Age at spermarche: 15-year trend and its association with body mass index in Chinese school-aged boys: Age at spermarche and relation to BMI". Pediatric Obesity. 11 (5): 369–374. doi:10.1111/ijpo.12073. PMID   26403948. S2CID   4772897.
  9. 1 2 Adegoke, Alfred A. (April 1993). "The experience of spermarche (the age of onset of sperm emission) among selected adolescent boys in Nigeria". Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 22 (2): 201–209. doi:10.1007/bf01536653. ISSN   0047-2891. S2CID   145581215.
  10. ↑ Moshang, Thomas (2005). Pediatric Endocrinology: The Requisites in Pediatrics. Mosby. p. 66. ISBN   978-0-323-01825-8. Cites Sun, S. S.; Schubert, C. M.; Chumlea, W. C.; Roche, A. F.; Kulin, H. E.; Lee, P. A.; Himes, J. H.; Ryan, A. S. (1 November 2002). "National Estimates of the Timing of Sexual Maturation and Racial Differences Among US Children". Pediatrics. 110 (5). American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): 911–919. doi:10.1542/peds.110.5.911. ISSN   0031-4005. PMID   12415029.
  11. 1 2 Wheeler, Mark D.; Styne, Dennis M. (1990-12-01). "Diagnosis and Management of Precocious Puberty". Pediatric Clinics of North America. Current Issues in Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology. 37 (6): 1255–1271. doi:10.1016/S0031-3955(16)37010-9. ISSN   0031-3955. PMID   2147987.
  12. ↑ Ziqin, Liu; Xiaohui, Li; Xiaobo, Chen (December 2021). "Precocious Puberty in Boys: A Study Based on Five Years of Data from a Single Center in Northern China". Journal of Clinical Research in Pediatric Endocrinology. 13 (4): 418–425. doi:10.4274/jcrpe.galenos.2021.2021.0033. ISSN   1308-5727. PMC   8638629 . PMID   34013711.
  13. 1 2 Schaefer, F; Marr, J; Seidel, C; Tilgen, W; Scharer, K (1990-11-01). "Assessment of gonadal maturation by evaluation of spermaturia". Archives of Disease in Childhood. 65 (11): 1205–1207. doi:10.1136/adc.65.11.1205. ISSN   0003-9888. PMC   1792602 . PMID   2248529.
  14. ↑ A. A.M. Ghazi; F. Rahimi; M. M.S. Ahadi; A. Sadeghi-Nejad (2001-11-01). "Development of True Precocious Puberty Following Treatment of a Leydig Cell Tumor of the Testis". Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism. 14 (9): 1679–1682. doi:10.1515/JPEM.2001.14.9.1679. ISSN   2191-0251. PMID   11795661.
  15. ↑ Stein, James H.; Whisnant Reiser, Lynn (1994). "A study of white middle-class adolescent boys' responses to ?semenarche? (The first ejaculation)". Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 23 (3): 373–384. doi:10.1007/BF01536725. S2CID   143706378.
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