ABSTRACT
Adolescence is a period of maturation and physical, sexual, social and liferole development. As a transition between childhood and adulthood, it is the shortest of the three life stages presented here and bridges childhood and adulthood, with the emergence of individual responsibility for the perpetration of abuses. During puberty, gender roles become more salient, and dating relationships are initiated; these shifts in social/sexual roles present new opportunities for power, control and appropriate conduct to be negotiated and therefore also opportunities for abuse, violence and inappropriate conduct to occur. Throughout the rest of this chapter, adolescents will be considered both as victims and abusers, across a spectrum of violence and sexual abuse.
