This is a book which seeks help those going through the process of mid-adolescence - either from the point of view of the adolescent or their families - it attends to the serious strains that may have to be borne if the picture portrayed is to have any realism. 'Youth culture' may idealize the adolescent and vilify parents; but, as we shall see, the paradoxical expectations placed on both adolescents and their parents arise from the creative tension between the desire to progress and the desire to regress as mid-adolescents consolidate the move out of childhood and prepare for adulthood. No easy task for the mid-adolescent and those responsible for them.This book examines issues such as the emotional and intellectual development commonly observed during adolescence, the variation in physiological development and what this can mean for the developing adolescent, the importance of the peer group and why this seems to provide so many of the signifiers of adolescence, the difficult and sometimes distasteful experiences that mid-adolescents may have to face, the framework of the law as it concerns adolescents, the frequency of eating disorders, self-harming and suicide among adolescents.