Development of the human body used to approximately judge a child's age based on physical development. Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy. In response to the signals, the gonads produce hormones that stimulate libido and the growth, function, and transformation of the brain, bones, muscle, blood, skin, hair, breasts, and sex organs. Physical growth—height and weight—accelerates in the first half of puberty and is completed when an adult
Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry The Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ) is a cross-disciplinary organization of individuals whose research concerns the Jewish people throughout the world. The ASSJ comprises primarily academics, but also policy analysts, communal professionals, and activists whose research concerns the Jewish people throughout the world. Social scientific disciplines represented include sociology, social psychology, social anthropology, demography, contemporary history, social work, political science, economics, and Jewish education. Members work throughout the world but primarily in North America, Israel, and Europe. The ASSJ encourages and facilitates contact among researchers, supports the dissemination