According to The Merriam Webster Dictionary, adolescence is defined as: the state or process of growing up, the period of life from puberty to maturity terminating legally at the age of majority, and A stage of development (as of language or culture) prior to maturity. Dr. David Walsh says, “Probably the best way to describe adolescence is to say that it begins at puberty and ends…sometime.” Walsh’s description implies that the mark for the end of adolescence is a moving target and has changed over generations. He goes on to say,
While puberty is the easy physiological marker for the beginning of adolescence, the end of adolescence is fuzzier. It is difficult to nail down biologically but can be defined socially as the taking on of an adult role in society. The end of adolescence is also coming later in life.
Arguably, if one is to put an age to adolescence, it begins at or about 13 and ends around the age of 18. Regardless of when adolescence starts or ends, one would have to agree that adolescence is a time of transition that is fraught with challenges and pressures for not only the teenager experiencing it, but their parents as well. It is during this transition from child to adult that one begins to assert their independence as well as find their own identity. It is also during this time that many behavioral …show more content…
First, this paper will discuss predictive behaviors that are common of difficult, troubled, or otherwise rebellious teens. Second, this paper will provide strategies that can help parents cope with, manage, and shape the character, competency, and faith of their child. The factors discussed in this paper represent only some of the behaviors that are common with troubled teens. The particular predictive behaviors discussed in this paper were chosen because of their common occurrences and because they are so closely related to risky behaviors of troubled teenagers in