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Question:
Dear Larry Siegel:
I would appreciate very much if you can help me to inderstand 2 issues of Adolescent sexuality:
1) Do the age of beginning of adolescent masturbation and the duration it during adolescence have the significance for sexual well being? To be more specific, for example: one boy starts masturbating at 12 years old and his adolescent masturbation lasts for 5 years, but another boy starts at 13 years old and his adolescent masturbation continues for 4 years? Say, all other components of this activity (attitude toward sexuality, frequency, privacy, messages from adults/parents, etc.) are the same. From sexual health's point of view, is there a difference?
What is better for the boys/men' sexual well being: 12 years old and adolescent masturbation for 5 years, or 13 years old and masturbation for 4 years? Does it matter for boys? Is it significant for the sexologist/sex educator?
Again, are the length of time of adolescent masturbation and when a boy starts masturbation significant towards his sexual health?
2) What age in average/normally do boys start masturbating? At 10, 12, 15 years old??? How long in average does adolescent masturbation last: 2, 3, 5.6 years??? What is modern sexology view on these?
I apologize for the redundancy in my first question, but I wanted to be understandable: it is important to me to understand whether the age of beginning masturbation and the duration of masturbation during adolescent has the significance for sexual health.
I appreciate very much your expertise and time, and I hope to receive your response.
Once again, thank you very much for your work!
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Answer:
by Larry Siegel: (06/22/2004)
Thanks for writing in with such an interesting question and kind words. First, let me say that the vast majority of people masturbate (self-pleasure). It is usually something that begins in childhood, often at a very young age, and continues throughout life. Infants may non-consciously pleasure themselves as a source of feeling good and at about 4-6 years of age, begin to make "cause and effect" discoveries, often leading to purposeful self-pleasuring. It is generally believed that if children have not started masturbating before adolescence, the chances are good that they will once the hormonal and physical changes of puberty start. For girls, these changes usually take pace between the ages of 9 and 17 and in boys, the average period is 11 to 17. For both boys and girls, masturbation usually continues after adolescence and is often a life-long activity. Some people may experience feelings of guilt or shame from pleasuring themselves, usually because they receive the general message that this is "nasty" or "bad" behavior (This is how many children are reprimanded when they are found pleasuring themselves).
There really is not set or established timeframe for when and how long masturbation should occur or have sexual health implications. In fact, some researchers have suggested that childhood "sexual deprivation" may impact negatively on sexual attitudes and values. As sexologists, we tend to consider masturbation as an important means of learning about our bodies. Through self-pleasuring, children and adolescents learn what is sexually pleasing, how to move their bodies, and and what their natural rhythms are. The activity has no harmful or negative effects, unless it's done with an element of compulsivity which interferes with one's daily life. So, in answereing your question about specific times and durations of masturbation, it has no real bearing on one's sexual health. If one does masturbate, it can be considered healthy; if one doesn't, that too may be considered healthy. If one starts at 9, 12, 13, or 16, neither has an advantage over the others in terms of effecting sexual health.
I hope this answered your questions. Please feel free to write in with any other questions or concerns you may have.
Take care and be well.
Larry SiegelReviewed by Sexual Health Editorial Team
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