Adolescence is a particular phase of the human lifespan - no longer children, neither are adolescents miniature adults. They have their own problems and strengths, and professionals who work with them must grasp this.

Understanding Adolescence opens with a look at the major social changes that have impacted on adolescence during the last twenty years, and an exploration of the major theoretical perspectives. Subsequent chapters describe physical development, the family, self and identity, and friendship and peer groups, placing adolescence into context and showing that contexts themselves have been subject to social change. Gender differences are examined, and a final chapter considers ethnicity and research findings in the context of a Western, white perspective and how this may differ from the developing world.