ABSTRACT
There is a general confidence that people between the ages of IO and 15 or 12 and 18 are unique, in a particular stage of their lives that has particular demands, problems, meanings, and crises. This uniqueness resides in their chronological age and the related physiological, emotional, social, and cognitive changes. When I began talking with undergraduate education students about teenagers, age was always significant and provided a template to judge appropriateness of actions. If a 16-year-old acted in a particular way, it was understood differently from a 14-or 18-year-old doing the same thing. I became intrigued with how adolescence is defmed in and through age, and thus, in and through time.
