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PART FIVE

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Adolescence

One observer said adolescence is like “starting the engines with an unskilled driver” (Dahl, 2004, p. 17). Would you ride with an unskilled driver? When my daughter Bethany had her learner’s permit, I did. Not until I heard a terrified “Mom! Help!” did I grab the wheel to avoid hitting a subway kiosk. I should have intervened sooner, but it is hard to know when adult-sized children need intervention. Bethany was a teenager, neither child nor adult, sometimes wanting independence, sometimes not.

It used to be easier. A century ago, puberty didn’t begin until age 15 or so. Soon after that, most girls married and most boys found work. It is said that adolescence begins with biology and ends with society. If so, then 100 years ago adolescence lasted a few months. Currently, it lasts a decade or more. Indeed, developmentalists once thought age 18 to 25 was early adulthood, then we thought it was late adolescence, and now many developmentalists consider emerging adulthood a separate period, as in this text and many others.

Understanding adolescence is not an abstract challenge: Those turbo-charged engines need skilled guidance. Get ready to grab the wheel.