The author analyses how pubescent children and adolescents face their body changes. The aim is understanding and describing the twofold dimension, personal and relational, that will affect the adolescent’s irreversibly sexual body. The adolescent’s struggle to deal with feelings aroused by leaving behind infantile dependence, on the one hand, and by the splendour of the newly entered adolescent world, on the other hand, is also considered.
Keywords: Adolescence, body image, latency period, parental figures.