ABSTRACT
In this chapter I shall attempt to trace the changes in adolescence in the FRG from the post-war period to the present. In view of the length of this period of history, I shall emphasize a comparison between the immediate post-war period and the 1950s with the current situation. The first section empirically describes trends and changes in adolescence and adolescent biographies on the basis of representative surveys, statistics and qualitative youth studies. This material, which points to the conclusion that there have been structural changes in adolescence over the period considered, is then interpreted in the light of critical modernization theories.
