Tanner stage
Overview
The Tanner scale is a scale of physical development in children
, adolescents and adult
s. The scale defines physical measurements of development based on external primary and secondary sex characteristic
s, such as the size of the breast
s, genitalia, and development of pubic hair
, and was first identified by James Tanner, a British pediatrician and thus bears his name.
Due to natural variation
, individuals pass through the Tanner stages at different rates, depending in particular on the timing of puberty
.
Child development
Child development stages describe theoretical milestones of child development. Many stage models of development have been proposed, used as working concepts and in some cases asserted as nativist theories....
, adolescents and adult
Adult
An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age....
s. The scale defines physical measurements of development based on external primary and secondary sex characteristic
Secondary sex characteristic
Secondary sex characteristics are features that distinguish the two sexes of a species, but that are not directly part of the reproductive system. They are believed to be the product of sexual selection for traits which give an individual an advantage over its rivals in courtship and aggressive...
s, such as the size of the breast
Breast
The breast is the upper ventral region of the torso of a primate, in left and right sides, which in a female contains the mammary gland that secretes milk used to feed infants.Both men and women develop breasts from the same embryological tissues...
s, genitalia, and development of pubic hair
Pubic hair
Pubic hair is hair in the frontal genital area, the crotch, and sometimes at the top of the inside of the legs; these areas form the pubic region....
, and was first identified by James Tanner, a British pediatrician and thus bears his name.
Due to natural variation
Human variability
Human variability, or human variation, is the range of possible values for any measurable characteristic, physical or mental, of human beings. Differences can be trivial or important, transient or permanent, voluntary or involuntary, congenital or acquired, genetic or environmental...
, individuals pass through the Tanner stages at different rates, depending in particular on the timing of puberty
Puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of reproduction, as initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads; the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy...
.
