IN ORDER to understand the psychologic disturbances of pubescence and adolescence, it must be borne in mind that the transition from childhood to full physiologic and psychosexual maturity is a particularly trying period. 1 Knowledge is still limited with respect to the interplay of psychologic, organic and growth factors which during the second decade of life have an effect on personality development and may lead to psychosomatic disorders both during adolescence and later in life. 2 The observations in this report are based on a psychosomatic study of 256 boys whose ages ranged from 9 to 16 years at the initial visit. In all these patients, either the child or a parent expressed concern over the sexual inadequacy of the patient's physique, although there was no evidence of gross congenital defects or endocrine dysfunction and all the boys were capable of eventual development of spontaneous puberty. Some of the somatic