They are driven to individuate. They are risk takers. They oppose and defy. They require more definite boundaries, more specific and overt rules, more uniform and consistent consequences. And a little leeway to rebel.
Adolescents are context bound.
It struck me recently that parents bring their adolescents to the clinic with the following statement. She is up one minute and down the next. But how the parent presents the teen and how the teen presents herself may be entirely context dependent information. But this is seldom true. We re missing the context.