What's Normal Adolescent?: A Guide of the Assessment of Adolescent Behavior

Abstract

Adolescence represents a developmental continuum between childhood and adulthood. Assessment of an adolescent's behavior can be based upon his efforts in accomplishing developmental tasks and his functioning relative to his stage of development—early adolescence and the casting-off of childhood; middle adolescence with the teen-age subculture; or late adolescence with the establishment of adult values. One should be aware of the conflicts and complications which may arise in each stage of development and routinely evaluate the adolescent's functioning within his family, peer group, and school situation. Assessing behavior in this frame of reference enables the physician to differentiate variations of normal development and behavior from pathological states in his adolescent patients.