ABSTRACT
Adolescence is an opportunity to consider the interface between child and adult mental health from developmental and systemic perspectives. In adolescence, young people exhibit features of both the child and the maturing adult. The problems encountered in adolescence may be related to persisting childhood disorder or to the stress of adolescence, or in later adolescence they may be part of an emerging adult picture. Adolescence may be understood using an integrative systemic model, with interactions between bio-logical, psychological, social and environmental factors (Cairns and Cairns, 1994). Development occurs in the context of a systemic interaction with parents, other family members, peers, neighbourhood, school and the wider society. Adolescence is characterised by change, but it need not be tumultuous and problematic unless social conditions prompt it (Jessor, 1993; Petersen and Leffert, 1995).
