High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Preadolescence is a stage of human development following early childhood and prior to adolescence. It may be defined as ending with the beginning of puberty or with the beginning of the teenage stage, the time frames in which adolescence is considered to begin. In terms of age in years, preadolescence is generally defined as the period from 9-14 years. Dictionary definitions generally designate it as 10-13 years. One can also distinguish `middle childhood and preadolescence` - middle childhood from approximately 5-8 years, as opposed to `the time children reach preadolescence (age 9-14 years).`