A Guide to Adolescent Sexual and Mental Health from the Perspective of Male Health

Adolescence and Sexual Psychology

Adolescence is the intermediate stage between childhood and adulthood, sometimes called a "crossroads in life." It differs from both childhood and adulthood. The most prominent characteristic of adolescence is the onset and completion of sexual development. Simultaneously, the greatest psychological changes in young men and women are reflected in their sexual psychology. Their awareness of sex shifts from unconscious to conscious; their sexual objects change from the same sex to the opposite sex; their interest in sex evolves from aversion to attraction to first love… This is a process almost everyone goes through. However, because young people's sexual awareness is still developing and often in a hazy state during adolescence, coupled with their volatile and changeable emotions, they can easily become uncontrollable due to excessive curiosity, enthusiasm, fantasies, impulses, and sexual desire if not properly guided. Furthermore, the influence of negative social phenomena can lead some young people to develop unhealthy sexual psychology, resulting in early relationships and marriages, neglecting their studies, and in some cases, even committing crimes. Therefore, young people themselves, their parents, and teachers should all have a certain understanding of the changes in sexual psychology during puberty, in order to cultivate a generation of young people who are not only physically fit but also have healthy sexual psychology.

The development of sexual awareness during puberty can generally be divided into four stages:

① The period of sexual resistance: At the beginning of puberty, there is a relatively short period in which teenagers tend to avoid the opposite sex, especially girls. This is mainly related to physiological factors. Due to the physiological changes in secondary sexual characteristics, teenagers feel bewildered and ashamed of the dramatic changes that are happening to them, instinctively developing a sense of alienation and aversion towards the opposite sex. This period lasts about one year.

② The period of admiration for elders: In the middle of puberty, young men and women often feel a spiritual resonance with certain people in their surroundings who are particularly outstanding in sports, arts, knowledge, or appearance (mostly older people of the same or opposite sex), admiring and yearning for them, and even trying to imitate the speech and behavior of these elders, to the point of infatuation.

③ Yearning for the Opposite Sex Stage:As puberty progresses and sexual development matures, young people often develop an interest in members of the opposite sex of similar age and hope to attract their attention during these interactions. However, due to the emotional instability and strong self-awareness of teenagers, conflicts easily arise during these interactions, often escalating into arguments or even breakups over trivial matters. Consequently, their romantic partners frequently shift.

Infant Romantic Stage:With puberty complete and reaching adulthood, young people focus their affections on a single member of the opposite sex they are attracted to. They spend a lot of time together, share mutual affection, help each other in work and studies, care for each other in daily life, envision a happy married life, and begin preparing for their future family. At this stage, young people pay less attention to their surroundings. Young women are often filled with romantic fantasies, yearn to be loved, and are prone to sentimentality; young men have a strong desire to love others, thereby gaining a sense of independence, and their mood is often more excited.

Where there are humans, there is love; where there is life, there is love. Young men and women both desire sexual intimacy; this is a natural phenomenon in life and an inevitable part of life. We oppose both the alarmist pronouncements of feudal moralists regarding the "strict separation of men and women" and the erroneous tendencies of "sexual openness" and "commodification of sex" in capitalist society. Understanding the laws of sexual psychology and popularizing scientific sex knowledge will not only enable young people in our country to correctly approach sexual issues but also help them establish a revolutionary outlook on life, better promoting my country's modernization. Because the sexual psychology of young men and women is not yet mature,

early romantic relationships not only affect their studies and work but also, due to a lack of proper standards for choosing a partner, often cannot guarantee lifelong happiness. Therefore, young people should seek their ideal partner after reaching adulthood. During courtship, they should respect each other, control their emotions with reason, and ensure the purity of love. This is the healthy sexual psychology that contemporary Chinese youth should possess.