ABSTRACT
From the bearded poet to the motorcycle delinquent, American adolescents usually go through a period of uncertainty and search, of trying to break away from old controls and standards, and of trying to establish their own identities and personalities. At the various stages of adolescence different kinds of persons were attracted by conservatism, for different reasons, and in response to different needs. It matters a great deal whether the conversion occurred immediately following puberty (between 12 and 17), or in late adolescence (beyond 17). The young converts found in conservatism a way to bring internal needs and fears into the open in the form of ideas and actions, there to communicate them, to shape them, to face them consciously and render them amenable to control. But the obedient rebels were more interested in restriction, in cutting off internal debate and conflict.
