In Support of Adolescents

Reviews the book, The case against adolescence: Rediscovering the adult in every teen by Robert Epstein (see record 2007-07062-000). In this book, Epstein sets out to persuade the reader that adolescents in America have been, in his word, “infantilized” to the extent that they are suffering emotionally and psychologically from their lack of appropriate adultlike treatment. His book is replete with examples of young people who have not been allowed to live up to their true potential and with other examples of how today's adolescents are actually quite capable of mature behavior. Epstein starts with a history lesson, demonstrating that in most of human history and in contemporary non-Western cultures there has been no identified developmental period between childhood and adulthood leading into documentation of the creation of what we now refer to as adolescence. The second part of the book describes the many capabilities of many of today's young people. The final section lists some specific suggestions for social change that Epstein believes will alleviate adolescent “storm and stress.” (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)