More than 100 years ago, G. Stanley Hall described adolescence as a period of “sturm und drang” – storm and stress – a period characterised by conflict with the adult world, moodiness and risky behaviour. Not a lot seems to have changed over the past century: his description of adolescent turmoil seems as familiar today as it was in the 19th century.
What causes all this turmoil? The transition from childhood to adult sexuality obviously involves an enormous upheaval, with changing roles and expectations, changing pressures and challenges.
Psychologists in the mid-20th century focused on this, arguing that it is the adolescent search for an adult identity and for individuality, for an adult role in the world, that fuels the challenge to parents, the risky explorations of the world, and the moody response to the stress that all this entails.
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