ABSTRACT
Adolescence, for all young people is likely to be a difficult period of life. Major biological changes are exacerbated by changes in role, expectation and increases in pressures and responsibility. This time of change, before eventual resolution, is lengthy and has no clear cut-off point. For example, complex legislation makes it possible for various statuses and roles to be expected of young people at differing ages. The age of consent for sexual relations is 16 years, at 17 they can consume alcohol on licensed premises, they can marry without parental consent and have the right to vote at 18, and homosexual relationships are legal at 21. We have no definite age at which we confer adult status on the young person with all the responsibilities and rights that go with it. Students and unemployed are often seen to have an extended adolescence, as if somehow, the world of work and the capacity to be economically independent is a major gauge of adulthood. This work status can occur of course at any age and can be lost too.
