Question:
Hello,
I was wondering about what are the other reliable signs of tanner 5 besides pubic hair. Just a few months ago there was a sex education event where both the boys and girls learned from a doctor about the Tanner stages. I found a website that lists signs of Tanner 5 in my language, but I’ll try to translate it to English.
Tanner 5: average age=14
- Penis, testis, and scrotum have reached their adult size
- pubic hair fills the entire groin and spreads to the inner thighs
- Still growing in height but the velocity has slowed down drastically (most boys reach full maturity and adult height at 17)
The doctor told us that pubic hair could appear much sooner in one boy. For example, if two boys started puberty at the average age of 11 years old, one of the boys could start growing pubic hair earlier thus his pubic hair development and the amount of area it spreads are wider. But then again, you said that pubic hair is just one of several signs of Tanner 5, what are the other reliable signs of Tanner 5?
Answer:
There are several errors in what you relayed. By definition, Tanner Stage 5 is when growth in height stops. Growth in height slows down during Tanner Stage 4. The average age for reaching Tanner Stage 5 is 17.
Doctors use three external signs for deciding when a boy reaches stage 5:
- The spread of pubic hair fills in the groin and has spread to the inner thighs
- The maturity of the genitals
- The size of the testicles
Other characteristics are listed in Stage 5 – Adulthood.