ABSTRACT
In previous chapters we presented the idea that teenagers can be considered ‘apprentice adults’. During adolescence, their task is to pick up the social skills to equip them for adulthood. Like any group of apprentices some will do better than others. Teenagers vary a great deal in the pace at which they master the skills necessary for adulthood. Some teenagers arrive into adolescence with highly developed skills and then rapidly and easily add to these. Others are less fortunate and may enter adolescence with poorer than average ability to manage frustration or have limited communication abilities, for example. The mentoring that a teenager receives during their adolescence, from parents, teachers and other important adults in their lives will also have a bearing on the ease with which they move through their teenage years. Lastly, the environment they fi nd themselves learning within will clearly infl uence their skills development.
