Parents are often at a loss to understand what has happened to their formerly cooperative, respectful and predictable child. And they are desperate to understand why adolescence is such a problematic stage of development for so many children. The term is often cited as an explanation for much that confuses and confounds the parents of teenagers. The late teenage years are often referred to as adolescence. Adolescence literally means that stage of development between childhood and maturity.
Adolescence seems to be an especially emotionally stressful period.
As an age group, for example, adolescents have a disproportionately high rate of psychiatric hospitalizations. In fact, if any form of mental illness will develop during a person's lifetime, it is most likely to emerge during retirement, old age, or adolescence. Looking at the life cycle developmentally, each stage in life can be characterized by the primary task which must be mastered at that stage. The developmental task of infancy, for example, is for the infant to learn to establish a close, secure and trusting relationship with his or her mother. The primary task of adolescence, however, is for the adolescent to succeed in separating himself or herself from his parents enough to establish his own independence.