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February 13, 1951. PEDIATRIC OBSERVATIONS ON MASTURBATION IN CHILDREN. Milton I. Levine, M.D.
Dr. Levine's direct observations of masturbation in children and of its effect on parents not only reveal its importance to both, but emphasize again that masturbation is a normal activity of childhood which may be inhibited or increased by the child's environment. It was observed to increase during periods of emotional stress, for example, by the birth of a sibling; yet children in hospitals, despite the tension of separation from the parent, were rarely observed to masturbate. Pleasurable rather than unpleasurable tension stimulated masturbation in other children. Displacement of masturbatory activity from one erogenous zone to another was observed in a three-year-old thumb-sucker who, upon a warning from a physician that thumb-sucking would make her look funny, promptly resorted instead to violent genital masturbation. In early infancy, once the ability to manipulate the hands is gained, touching certain areas of the body, especially the mouth, appears pleasurable. At five