• Defines what adolescence is and when it occurs
• Considers adolescence as a life stage - encompassing puberty, cognitive changes, and the search for identity; relationship changes; leisure activities; risk-taking and anti-social behaviours; adolescent mental health and romantic development
• Adopts an interdisciplinary perspective to the topic, incorporating approaches from biology, anthropology, developmental psychology, and sociology
• Explores the cultural and historical context of adolescence

  
Adolescence is a turbulent period to live through, and a time of importance and concern to parents, teachers, and social workers. Marking the transition from the world of childhood to adult life, the adolescent faces many challenges and opportunities, including forming their own identity, relating to often conflicting demands from parents and peers, and negotiating first romantic relationships. 
   
In this Very Short Introduction, Peter K. Smith provides an engaging and informative overview of what we know and what we are learning about adolescence. Including both a guide to the classical research that has informed our knowledge, as well as the results of the modern research into the contemporary adolescent experience, Smith examines a number of aspects of adolescence, including the cultural and historical context, the biological changes to the adolescent brain, and the controversies that adolescence brings.