Teenage years are often linked with turmoil. Some people credit the whole concept of adolescence to one of the earliest developmental psychologists, the American G. Stanley Hall. Up until then (the beginning of the twentieth century) there was no such thing as adolescence and it is claimed that the word ‘teenager’ was only invented in the 1950s. In fact, it is still not a recognised stage in many cultures around the world. People go straight from childhood into adulthood, with no messing around with an in between time.
Hall (1904) not only invented the concept but described it as a time of storm and stress because of conflicts with parents, mood disruptions and a desire for risky behaviour. Since Hall’s time, psychologists have tried to explain why adolescence seems to be a difficult stage of development. For example, Erik Erikson, another famous developmental psychologist, put forward the idea that adolescence is a time of stress because the major changes of puberty create an identity crisis.
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