Sexual fantasies and dreams become more common and explicit in adolescence than at earlier ages, often as an accompaniment to masturbation. One study found that only 7 percent of adolescent girls and 11 percent of adolescent boys who masturbated never fantasized, and about half reported using fantasy most of the time during masturbation. Fantasy seems to serve several different purposes in adolescence: it can add to the pleasure of a sexual activity, be a substitute for a real (but unavailable) experience, induce arousal or orgasm, provide a form of mental rehearsal for...
