ABSTRACT

A key finding of the present book is that adolescence is a critical period of psychosocial development. Using various types of descriptive models, I observed massive adolescent maturation across developmental domains. The second key finding comes from the developmental covariation models. Consistent with developmental contextualism (Lerner, 1991, 1996), these models show systematic transactions between persons and social contexts across development. At the heart of these transactions is the interplay between adolescent maturation/inability to mature and relationships with parents and peers. The covariation models reveal variation of developmental sequence in these transactions. In one instance (pattern 4), parent effects were observed: parents drive psychosocial development in early and middle adolescence through the transmission of values and behavior. In contradistinction, systematic child effects were shown in patterns 5, 6, and 7: adolescent maturation/inability to mature drive parental and peer behaviors.

This chapter will address both key findings. This discussion of the various developmental patterns will allow us to answer the question of whether adolescence is a period of turmoil or formation. Both the formation and the turmoil perspectives are valid, but the formation perspective applies to the majority of adolescents, whereas the turmoil perspective applies to a minority. Also, middle adolescence is the period in which storm and stress peak.