Oxford Dictionary of Sociology

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adolescence

adolescence
The term may be applied to the emotional and behavioural states supposedly associated with becoming adult; the phase in the life-cycle before the physical changes associated with puberty are socially recognized; or the transition in status from childhood to adulthood.

Typically, in modern industrial societies, young people are sexually mature well before society acknowledges them as adults in other respects; and, because of education and training, they remain dependent on parents and guardians. Consequently, adolescence has been seen as a time of peak emotional turbulence (see J. C. Coleman, The Nature of Adolescence, 1980). Although few sociologists would dismiss the idea that physical change may of itself bring about behavioural change, or that young people do face a tension between sexual and social maturity, the value of the term adolescence is questionable. Comparisons with...

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