16.4 Sadness and Anger

Adolescence is usually a wonderful time, perhaps better for current generations than for any generation before. Nonetheless, troubles plague about 20 percent of youths. Most disorders are comorbid, with several problems occurring at once. Distinguishing between pathology and normal moodiness, between behavior that is seriously troubled versus merely unsettling, is complex.

It is typical for an adolescent to be momentarily less happy and more angry than younger children, but teen emotions often change quickly (Neumann et al., 2011). For a few, however, negative emotions cloud every moment, becoming intense, chronic, even deadly.

Depression

The general emotional trend from late childhood through adolescence is toward less confidence. A dip in self-esteem at puberty is found for children of every ethnicity and gender (Fredricks & Eccles, 2002; Greene & Way, 2005; Kutob et al., 2009; Zeiders et al., 2013). Some studies report rising self-esteem thereafter (especially for African American girls and European American boys), but reports vary, and every study finds notable individual differences.

On average, however, self-esteem is lower in girls than boys, lower in Asian Americans than European Americans who themselves are lower than African Americans, and lower in younger adolescents than older adolescents (Bachman et al., 2011). Many studies report a gradual rise in self-esteem from early adolescence through at least age 30, but all find notable variability from one person to another, and some find continuity within each person. Severe depression may lessen, but it rarely disappears (Huang, 2010).

Parents and peers affect self-esteem, and some communities have lower rates of depression because they promote strong and supportive relationships between teenagers and adults. Differential sensitivity means that some adolescents are particularly vulnerable, while others are not. When mothers are belligerent, disapproving, and contemptuous, some of their daughters are suicidal, while others are genetically protected from the self-blame such mothers cause (Whittle et al., 2011).

Cultural contexts are influential. One cultural norm is familism—the belief that family members should sacrifice personal freedom and success to care for one another. For Latino youth, self-esteem and ethnic pride are higher than for most other groups and usually rise after puberty. This is particularly true for girls (Zeiders et al., 2013). Perhaps adolescent girls are able to help their families in many ways as they mature, and that expression of familism brings pride.

However, if a Latino family is characterized by fighting and fragmentation, that reduces self-esteem even more than do similar circumstances for non-Latino adolescents (Smokowski et al., 2010). Similarly for gay adolescents, family rejection markedly increases the risk of suicide (Saewyc, 2011). Adolescents of any background with low self-esteem because of family rejection are likely to turn to drugs, sex, cutting, and dieting—all of which often make depression worse.

Some adolescents sink into clinical depression, a deep sadness and hopelessness that disrupts all normal, regular activities. The causes, including genes and early care, predate adolescence. Then the onset of puberty—with its myriad physical and emotional ups and downs—pushes some vulnerable children, especially girls, into despair. The rate of clinical depression more than doubles during this time, to an estimated 15 percent, affecting about 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 10 boys.

Sex hormones are probably part of the reason, but girls also experience social pressures from their families, peers, and cultures that boys do not (Naninck et al., 2011). Perhaps the combination of biological and psychosocial stresses causes some to slide into depression. Genes are involved as well.

One study found that the short allele of the serotonin transporter promoter gene (5-HTTLPR) increased the rate of depression among girls everywhere but increased depression among boys only if they lived in low-SES communities (Uddin et al., 2010). It is not surprising that certain genes make depression more likely, but it is puzzling that neighborhoods affected boys more than girls. Perhaps the social context factors that depress girls are in the culture, and hence affect girls no matter where they live, but boys are protected unless they live in a place where jobs, successful male role models, and encouragement are scarce.

A cognitive explanation for gender differences in depression focuses on rumination—talking about, remembering, and mentally replaying past experiences. Girls ruminate much more than boys, and rumination often leads to depression (Michl et al., 2013). For that reason, close mother—daughter relationships may be depressing if the pair ruminate about the mother’s problems (Waller & Rose, 2010).

Serious, distressing thoughts about killing oneself (called suicidal ideation) are most common at about age 15. The 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey revealed that more than one-third (36 percent) of U.S. high school girls felt so hopeless that they stopped doing some usual activities for two weeks or more in the previous year, and almost one-fifth (19.3 percent) seriously thought about suicide. The corresponding rates for boys were 22 percent and 12.5 percent (MMWR, June 8, 2012).

Suicidal ideation can lead to parasuicide, also called attempted suicide or failed suicide. Parasuicide includes any deliberate self-harm that could have been lethal. Parasuicide is the best word to use because “failed” suicide implies that to die is to succeed (!); suicide “attempt” is likewise misleading because, especially in adolescence, the difference between attempt and actual suicide may be luck and prompt treatment, not intent.

Hanging Out These three adolescents live on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. Adolescence can be challenging for all teenagers, but the suicide rate among Native American teenagers is more than three times the rate for US adolescents overall. Tribal officials in South Dakota are trying to improve the lives of young people so they feel more hope for the future.

KEVIN MOLONEY/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX

As you see in Figure 16.5, parasuicide can be divided according to those who require medical attention (surgery, pumped stomachs, etc.) and those who do not, but any parasuicide is a warning. If there is a next time, the person may die.

Sad Thoughts Completed suicide is rare in adolescence, but serious thoughts about killing oneself are frequent. Depression and parasuicide are more common in girls than in boys, but rates are high even in boys. There are three reasons to suspect the rates for boys are underestimates: Boys tend to be less willing to divulge their emotions, boys consider it unmanly to try but fail to kill themselves, and completed suicide is higher in males than in females.

Source: MMWR, June 8, 2012; National Center for Health Statistics, 2012e.

Internationally, rates of teenage parasuicide range between 6 and 20 percent. Among U.S. high school students in 2011, 9 percent of the girls and 6 percent of the boys tried to kill themselves in the previous year (MMWR, June 8, 2012; see Figure 16.5).

While suicidal ideation during adolescence is common, completed suicides are not. The U.S. annual rate of completed suicide for people aged 15 to 19 (in school or not) is about 8 per 100,000, or 0.008 percent, half the rate for adults aged 20 and older.

Because they are not logical and analytical, adolescents are particularly affected when they hear about a suicide, either through the media or from peers (Insel & Gould, 2008). That makes them susceptible to cluster suicides, a term for the occurrence of several suicides within a group over a brief span of time.

In every large nation except China, girls are more likely to attempt suicide but boys are more likely to complete it. In the United States, adolescent boys kill themselves four times more often than girls (National Center for Health Statistics, 2012). The reason may be method: Males typically jump from high places or shoot themselves (immediately lethal), whereas females often swallow pills or cut their wrists, which allows time for conversation, intervention, and second thoughts.

Hope and Anger Adolescents and young adults everywhere demonstrate against adult authority, with varied strategies and results. In Cairo’s Tahrir Square (left), this young man flashes the peace sign hours before President Mubarak’s resignation. French students (right) protested cuts in high school staff, but their demands were resisted by the government. Worldwide, social change is fueled by youthful aspirations—sometimes leading to victory, sometimes to despair, and often (as in Egypt) with high emotions that seem unrealistic later on. The French students (right) seem to have lost all hope—a sign of political despair.

© JAMES MAY/ALAMY
REUTERS/PHILIPPE WOJAZER/LANDOV

Delinquency and Defiance

Like low self-esteem and suicidal ideation, bouts of anger are common in adolescence. In fact, the moody adolescent could be both depressed and delinquent because externalizing and internalizing behavior are more closely connected in adolescence than at any other age (Loeber & Burke, 2011). Teenagers jailed for assault (externalizing) are suicide risks (internalizing).

Externalizing actions are obvious. Many adolescents slam doors, curse parents, and tell friends exactly how badly other teenagers (or siblings or teachers) have behaved. Some teenagers—particularly boys—”act out” by breaking laws. They steal, damage property, or injure others.

Both the prevalence (how widespread) and the incidence (how frequent) of criminal actions are more common during adolescence than earlier or later. Arrest statistics in every nation reflect this fact, and confidential self-reports reveal that virtually every adolescent breaks the law at least once before age 20. Only about one-fourth of young lawbreakers are caught, and most of those are warned and released (Dodge et al., 2006).

In one study of 1,559 urban seventh-graders (both sexes, all races, from parochial as well as public schools), more than three-fourths had committed at least one offense (stolen something, damaged property, or hurt someone physically). Usually, however, adolescents are not chronic offenders: In the same study, fewer than one-third had committed five or more such acts (Nichols et al., 2006). To put this in perspective, remember that buying cigarettes or a beer, having sex with someone underage, skipping school, and breaking a local curfew are all illegal for those under age 18.

Research on confessions to a crime negates the notion that adolescents are often serious criminals. In the United States, about 20 percent of confessions are false: That is, a person confesses to a crime he or she did not commit. False confessions are more likely in adolescence, partly because of brain immaturity and partly because young people want to help their family members and please adults—including the police (Owen-Kostelnik et al., 2006; Steinberg, 2009).

A leading researcher on juvenile delinquency says that we need to distinguish two kinds of teenage lawbreakers. Most juvenile delinquents are adolescence-limited offenders, adolescents whose criminal activity stops by age 21 (Moffitt, 2003). They break the law with their friends, facilitated by their chosen antisocial peers. More boys than girls are in this group, but some gangs include both sexes (the gender gap in law-breaking is narrower in late adolescence than earlier) (Moffitt et al., 2001).

The other kind of delinquents are l ife-course-persistent offenders (Moffitt et al., 2001), people who break the law before and after adolescence as well as during it. Their law breaking is more often alone than as part of a gang, and the cause of their problems is neurological impairment (either inborn or caused by early experiences), the symptoms of which include problems with language and learning from childhood.

The criminal records of both types of teenagers may be similar. However, if adolescence-limited delinquents can be protected from various snares (such as quitting school, entering prison, drug addiction, early parenthood), they outgrow their criminal behavior. This is confirmed by other research: Few delinquent youths who are not imprisoned continue to be criminals in early adulthood (Monahan et al., 2009).

What Next? Jenelle Evans, famous as Teen Mom 2, has photographers following her even to court. Here she returns to court with her then boyfriend, Kieffer Delp, both accused of breaking and entering and drug possession. Those charges were dropped, but the judge sentenced her to two days in jail because she tested positive for marijuana. Limited or persistent?

AARON ST. CLAIR/SPLASH NEWS/NEWSCOM

One way to analyze the likelihood of adolescent crime is to consider earlier patterns and stop delinquency before the police become involved. Parents and schools need to develop strong and protective relationships with children, teaching them emotional regulation and prosocial behavior, as explained in earlier chapters. In adolescence, three pathways to dire consequences can be seen:

1. Stubbornness can lead to defiance, which can lead to running away—runaways are often victims as well as criminals (e.g., falling in with prostitutes and petty thieves).
2. Shoplifting can lead to arson and burglary.
3. Bullying can lead to assault, rape, and murder.

Each of these pathways demands a different response. The rebelliousness of the first can be channeled or limited until more maturation and less impulsive anger prevail. Those on the second pathway require stronger human relationships and moral education. Those on the third present the most serious problem; Their bullying should have been stopped earlier, as Chapters 10 and 13 explained. In all cases, early warning signs are present, and intervention is more effective earlier than later (Loeber & Burke, 2011).

Adolescent crime in the United States and many other nations has decreased in the past 20 years. Only half as many juveniles under age 18 are currently arrested for murder than was true in 1990. For almost every crime, boys are arrested at least twice as often as girls are.

No explanations for this declining rate or for gender differences are accepted by all scholars. Regarding gender, it is true that boys are more overtly aggressive and rebellious at every age, but this may be nurture, not nature (Loeber et al., 2013). Some studies find that female aggression is typically limited to family and friends, and therefore less likely to lead to an arrest.

Regarding the drop in adolescent crime, many possibilities have been suggested: fewer high school dropouts (more education means less crime); wiser judges (who now have community service as an option); better policing (arrests for misdemeanors are up, which may warn parents); smaller families (parents are more attentive to each of two children than each of twelve); better contraception and legal abortion (wanted children are less likely to become criminals); stricter drug laws (binge drinking and crack use increase crime); more immigrants (who are more law abiding); less lead (early lead poisoning reduces brain functioning); and more.

Nonetheless, adolescents are more likely to break the law than adults are. To be specific, the arrest rate for 15- to 17-year-olds is twice that for those over 18. The disproportion is true for almost every crime (fraud, forgery, and embezzlement are exceptions) (FBI, 2013). Jail may increase the chance that a temporary rebellion will become a lifetime pattern, but, as with depression, angry adolescents cannot be ignored.