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Sexual maturity is the capability of an organism to reproduce. In humans, it is related to both puberty and adulthood.[1] Puberty is the biological process of sexual maturation, while adulthood, the condition of being socially recognized as an independent person capable of giving consent and taking responsibility, generally implies sexual maturity (certain disorders of sexual development notwithstanding), but depends on other criteria, defined by specific cultural expectations.[1][2]
Most multicellular organisms are unable to sexually reproduce at birth (animals) or germination (e.g. plants): depending on the species, it may be days, weeks, or years until they have developed enough to be able to do so; in addition, certain cues may trigger an organism to become sexually mature. These may be external, such as drought, or fire, that triggers sexual maturation of certain plants, or internal, such as percentage of body fat (certain animals). Internal cues are not to be confused with hormones, the chemical signals that initiate cellular processes leading to sexual maturity, but the production and secretion of hormones is triggered by such cues. In some species, immature males may delay sexual maturation in the presence of another sexually mature male, as in the male chicken (rooster), due to the intense, often lethal, combat engaged in by mature males. The female honeybee only becomes sexually mature if it is fed a special substance ("royal jelly") during the larval stage.
- ^ a b Thomas Edward McNamara (2004). Evolution, Culture, and Consciousness: The Discovery of the Preconscious Mind. University Press of America. pp. 262–263. ISBN 0-7618-2765-X.
- ^ Joseph S. Sanfilippo; Eduardo Lara-Torre; D. Keith Edmonds; Claire Templeman (2008). Clinical Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. CRC Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-203-09178-4.
The definition of puberty alone can encompass the process of sexual maturation, but a more expansive approach is to think of puberty in combination with the term adolescence. This differentiation prompts the practitioner to consider the psychological, behavioral, and social changes of the adolescent who is experiencing pubertal development.