Tanner stages
Developmental maturity assessment
Tanner stages are a standardized scale used in medicine to assess physical development during puberty, tracking changes in secondary sex characteristics from childhood through full sexual maturity.
Named for British pediatrician James Tanner, the system describes five stages for breast development in females, genital development in males, and pubic hair growth in both sexes.
Doctors use Tanner staging to evaluate whether a child's development is progressing normally or requires medical attention.
- growth spurtPeriod of accelerated physical development
- growth plateCartilage enabling bone elongation
- menarcheOnset of menstruation
- pubertySexual development stage
- sexual developmentMaturation of reproductive systems
adolescence · maturity · hormones · physical examination · pubic hair · endocrinology · testosterone · sexual maturation · growth hormone · estrogen · secondary sex characteristics · body hair · pituitary gland · growth charts · acne · hormonal changes · genitalia · voice change
- growth assessmentheight, weight chart, height measurement, growth chart, growth charts
- pubertypuberty, voice cracking, adolescence, growth spurts, body hair
Tanner stagessenescence
Gradual functional decline with age
prepubertal · andropause · adrenarche · menopause · delayed puberty