Postgraduate Medicine
ISSN: 0032-5481 (Print) 1941-9260 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ipgm20
Why the angry adolescent? Robert E. Switzer To cite this article: Robert E. Switzer (1976) Why the angry adolescent?, Postgraduate Medicine, 59:5, 209-213, DOI: 10.1080/00325481.1976.11714368 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00325481.1976.11714368
Published online: 07 Jul 2016.
Submit your article to this journal
View related articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ipgm20 Download by: [Australian Catholic University]
Date: 22 August 2017, At: 20:23
•
1pma annais
Downloaded by [Australian Catholic University] at 20:23 22 August 2017
from the 60th annual postgraduate medical assembly
• Adolescence is really the last stage of childhood. By nature it is a normal interruption of a peaceful growth and development process. It is punctuated by explosive, fluid, and erratic behavior which, if indulged in at any other time of life, would be considered grossly neurotic or even psychotic. The adolescent at times rushes headlong into adulthood and at times tries evasive actions to avoid it; turns away from childhood while holding on to childhood gratifications; works toward giving up childhood dependency before being actually independent. Each youngster is pushed into adulthood by physiologie growth and maturation and at the same time desires it and fears it. This turbulent period is indeed inescapable. Thus, in many ways, the behavior of today's youth is not really new. About 800 BC, the Greek poet Hesiod stated, ''1 see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly ali youth are reckless beyond words.'' About 2,300 years ago Soc rates observed, ''These are indeed perilous times. Our young people are rebellious towards established authority. They are indifferent to convention and no longer neat in appearance. They are openly disobedient to their parents. If these are to become the future leaders, there is indeed little hope for the world.'' The youth of today, however, seem to be more rebellious than any of their predecessors. The recklessness has become aggressiveness; the frivolity, anger; the rebelliousness has turned to defiance; disobedience to militancy. Wh y? And are these feelings justifiable? Can they be changed?
why the angry adolescent? RobertE. Switzer, MD Eastern State School and Hospital Trevose, Pennsylvania
Understanding the reasons behind the angry behavior of youth today is a necessary first step in effecting changes. The onus is on adults to see that basic needs of children are fulfilled and that initial energy and enthusiasm are channeled into productive, meaningful activities.
A Glanee at History
At the turn of the century, industrialization and urbanization were radically changing life-styles. For many families, the labor of their children in mines or mills meant the difference between eating and starving. For others, the burden of rearing children was too great, and children were abandoned in increasing numbers, to such an extent that institutions had to be set up to care for them. The juvenile court system that came into being in the late 1800s grew into a system that could incarcerate youngsters for indeterminate periods without formai charges, without hearings, and without informing the parents. Many acts considered offenses in the juvenile justice system were perfectly legal in the adult system. ~
Vol. 59 • No. 5 • May 1976 • POSTGRADUATE MEDICINE
209
Downloaded by [Australian Catholic University] at 20:23 22 August 2017
Sex and violence have become part of the socialization process and have contributed to changing ideas about human values and worth.
In 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt called the first White House Conference toreview the circumstances and prospects of the nation's children. Since then, a White House Conference devoted to children and youth has been called by the President about every ten years. The purpose of each conference is to advise the American people, in their roles as parents, educators, legislators, health care workers, and advisors, among others, of the needs of children. The conclusions reached by these conferences stand out as expressions of high and noble hope, but unfortunately they have been largely ignored. At the time of the first conference, child labor was a fact of !ife. A constitutional amendment to protect the well-being and health of children against child labor abuses was drawn up but was not passed by the legislature. (Not until the early 1930s was such a law adopted. Possibly the tight job market then prevailing had something to do with its acceptance.) The conference protested against the institutionalization of dependent, neglected, or troubled children and suggested that these children be cared for in family settings whenever practicable. The "warehouses" of children found across the country until very recently were stark witness to how well this advice was taken. The conference held in 1919 at the end of the Great W ar framed the Child Health and Welfare Standards that were designed to '' give every child a fair chance.'' The five conferences held since then have repeatedly listed the needs of children and the rights they should expect from a democratie system. But these conferences have accomplished little, if anything.
its children and youth. The claim that we are a child-centered society, that we look to our young as tomorrow' s leaders is a myth. Our words are made meaningless by our actions--by our lack of national, community, and persona/ investment in maintaining the health and development of our young, by a tende ney to rely on a proliferation of simple, one-facto red, short term and inexpensive remedies and services. As a tragic consequence, we have in our midst millions of ill-fed, ill-educated and discontented youngsters and a/most ten million un der age 25 who are in need of help from mental health workers. Sorne means must be devised to de le gate clear responsibility and authority to insure the well-being of our young. Out of their deliberations, the Joint Commission stated a conviction that if hum an resources are to be developed and optimized, children and youth must be granted the following rights: • The right to be wanted. • The right to be born healthy. • The right to live in a healthy environment. • The right to satisfaction of basic needs. • The right to continuing, loving care. • The right to acquire the intellectual and emotional skills necessary to achieve individual aspirations and to cope effectively in society. • The right to receive care and treatment in facilities which are appropriate to their needs and which keep them as close! y as possible to their normal social setting. The Situation Today
The Rights of the Young
In 1970, the Joint Commission on the Mental Health of Children was set up by Congress in recognition of the fact that des pite years of rhetoric, few resources had been committed to the health and development of the young. The commission 1 declared: This nation, the richest of ail world powers, has no unified commitment to
210
From the foregoing very brief overview, it can be seen that there has been no Jack of governmental awareness of the problems of young people. Their needs have been voiced on many occasions. What has been the outcome? The youth of today face a confusing world of discrepancies and contrasts. They grow up surrounded by opulence but within view of
POSTGRADUATE MEDICINE o May 1976 • Vol. 59 o No. 5
Downloaded by [Australian Catholic University] at 20:23 22 August 2017
poverty, hunger, discrimination, and injustice. They have witnessed how technologie advances have enabled man to reach out to the moon and the planets, travel around the world in a day, communicate instant! y by satellite, annihilate the human race by pushing a button. They have witnessed how greed, neglect, . and ignorance have permitted pollution of air, water, and land. Sex and violence have become part of the socialization process and have contributed to changing ideas about human values and worth. Laws abolishing child labor have not put a stop to the mistreatment of children. Child abuse is becoming an increasing problem as the demands of living become more complex. Nationwide public agencies receive over 300,000 reports of suspected child abuse or maltreatment every year; over 2,000 children die each year in circumstances suggesting abuse or maltreatment. For every suspected case there are without doubt many more that remain hidden. Abused children in many cases become abusive parents. Many millions of American young people, along with their parents, still experience the degradation of living in poverty, and many others live in conditions of deprivation, if not actual want. The home atmosphere is one of helplessness and hopelessness. The children face a lifetime of substandard living conditions, probable malnutrition, unnecessary and untreated illness, and psychologie handicaps. They have Jess chance of being able to cornpete in school or for jobs than children from more affluent families. Three fourths of the nation's so-called retarded children are found in slum areas. Many children of poverty are destined to become dependents on, rather than contributors to, society. Many damaged children are born to malnourished or sick women who have bad inadequate or no medical care during pregnancy. Thousands of unwanted children continue to be born in the United States. Often the parents do not have access to birth control information and deviees. Unwanted children, because they do not receive consistent emotionally satisfying care, may never acquire the
Vol. 59 • No. 5 • May 1976 • POSTGRADUATE MEDICINE
Robert E. Switzer
Dr. Switzer is superintendent of the Eastern State School and Hospital, Trevose, Pennsylvania.
motivation or intellectual and emotional skills necessary to cape effecti vely in society. Many children-the emotionally disturbed, the mentally ill or retarded, the handicapped, the delinquent-do not receive care appropriate to their needs and in a setting closely allied to their normal social milieu. The number of children and adolescents receiving care in public institutions and psychiatrie facilities across the country is increasing, in contrast to the reduction in size of the general mental hospital patient population. In the early 1950s, a Senate committee studyingjuvenile delinquency discovered that more than 1 million youngsters were in trouble, half of them seriously enough to warrant court action. The number was found to have doubled in 15 years, a rate of increase much higher than that of the adolescent population. Gangs of adolescents engaged in acts of senseless violence. A drug problem was emerging. Unrestrained impulse expression seemed to be increasing. The adolescents involved were 6ften those from broken or conflict-ridden homes or with poor raie models in their homes, but just as often they were those who bad been given tao much, rather than tao little. The number of runaways was estimated at 300,000 per year, a number that was on the increase. The committee felt that the basic problem was not so much the behavior of the young as it was the unethical and immoral standards of the aider generation. The members concl uded that the final solution to the problem lay in each home and in the resources of each community . .,..
211
Downloaded by [Australian Catholic University] at 20:23 22 August 2017
Young people need to be provlded wlth good role modela and consistent discipline and to be taught to glve and recelve love and affection.
During the past decade, delinquency cases have again nearly doubled. One of two children living in slums becomes delinquent by age 18. Approximately half of the serious crimes are committed by juveniles. Between 1960 and 1970, juvenile arrests for violent crimes increased almost three times as fast as adult arrests. Violence has penetrated even the college carnpuses. School dropouts are involved in delinquent acts up to ten times as often as youngsters who remain in school. And many thousands of young people are dropping out of schools which are geared to academie achievement rather than to vocational interest. Many students are denied the opportunity to develop their potential through effective vocational training and meaningful work experience. They enter the adult world without skills and with diminished opportunities to become productive citizens. Suggested Solutions
It is obvious that the present atmosphere of violence, disrespect, confusion, and disillusion among the young is not a sudden phenomenon. Children and youth have been at risk for a long time. Society has lacked the ability or the will to facilitate the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Very little progress has been made in altering the inequities that victimize children perhaps most of ali. Input has much to do with output. According to the Cox Commission, society has "failed to transmit to many of our ablest young men and women either a sense of the values of reason, arder, and civility or an appreciation of the fact that freedom depends upon voluntary restraint. " 2 It seems to me that solutions must come from two directions. First, there must be a national coordinated commitment to fulfilling the basic needs and rights of ail of our people, not just the lucky few. The term "my children'' must be broadened to include ali children. As Bronfenbrenner put it: If the children and youth of a nation are afforded opportunity to develop
212
the ir capacities to the fullest, if they are given the knowledge to understand the work and the wisdom to change it, then the prospects for the future are bright. ln contrast, a society which neglects its children, however weil it may function in other respects, risks eventual disorganization and demise. 3 In addition to fulfillment of the rights listed by the Joint Commission on the Mental Health of Children, young people also need to be provided with good role models and consistent discipline and to be taught to give and receive love and affection. Second, the generation gap must be bridged. Margaret Mead4 has pointed out that ali those who grew up before World War II are: ... immigrants in time, immigrants from an earlier world, living in an age essentially different from anything else we knew before . .. .No generation has ever known, experienced and incorporated such rapid changes, watched the source of power, the means of communication, the definition of humanity, the limits of their own explorable universe, the certainties of a known and limited world, the fundamental imperatives of ail life and earth, ali changed before the ir eye s . ... We have to real ize that no other generation will ever experience what we have experienced. As long as any adult thinks that he, like parents and teachers of old, can become introspective, evoke his own youth to understand the youth before him, he is lost. But once the fact of a deep, new, unprecedented world-wide generation gap is firmi y established in the minds of both the young and the old, communication can be established again. Yaung people want to be lieve th at they are relevant and significant. They want a sense of responsibility. They must be allowed to participate in articulating and solving society's problems. They must be encouraged to believe that what happens to them depends, in large part, on what they themselves do rather
POSTGRADUATE MEDICINE o May 1976 o Vol. 59 o No. 5
than on what the system has decreed for them. The transition from childhood to adolescence and then to adulthood must be facilitated by adults. If, after years of inaction and worsening problems, still nothing is done, it may be weil to remember: "We get the kind of adolescents th at we de serve. 5 "
Downloaded by [Australian Catholic University] at 20:23 22 August 2017
Summary
The angry behavior of youth today is not a phenomenon but one that is becoming more widespread. The reasons behind it are many and varied. Government commissions formed to review the circumstances and prospects of
children in America have repeatedly pointed out the needs of youth, but their recommendations have largely been ignored. That "we get what we give" is particularly true in regard to the behavior of our youth. A national commitment must be made to fulfill the basic needs and rights ofall young people. They must be given responsibility for their own acts, and the transition from adolescence to adulthood must be facilitated by concerned, caring adults. • Address reprint requests to Robert E. Switzer, MD, Eastern State School and Hospital, 3740 Lincoln Highway, Trevose, PA 19047.
References 1. Joint Commission on Mental Health of Children: Challenge for the 1970s. (Final Report) Washington, OC, US Government Printing Office, 1969 2. Famswonh DL: The young adult: An overview. Am J Psychiatry 131:847, 1974 3. Miller CA: Health care of children and youth in America. Am J Public Health 65:358, 1975
readySOUrCe
4. Mead M: The generation gap. (Editorial) Science, Apr Il, 1969, p 135 5. Anthony J: The reactions ofadults to adolescents and their behavior. ln Esman AH (Editor): Psychology of Adolescence. New York, International University Press, 1975
THE ANGRY ADOLESCENT
BOOKS
DO
The Psychiatrie Dilemma of Adolescence (Masterson) Boston, Little, Brown & Co, 1967 Problems of Disadvantaged and Deprived Youth (Cull, Hardy) 1974 Problems of Adolescents: Social and Psychologie Approaches (Hardy, Cull) 1974 Springfield, Ill, Charles C Thomas, Publisher Youth: Problems and Approaches (Shamsie) Philadelphia, Lea & Febiger, 1972
AUDIOVISUALS Normal and Abnormal Behavior of Adolescence (Offer et al) Source: Behavioral Sciences Tape Library, 485 Main St, Fort Lee, NJ 07024 Cos!: $72 Adolescent Behavior Today (60-min tape, catalog #PD-21-11) (Fine)
Vol. 59 • No. 5 • May 1976 • POSTGAADUATE MEDICINE
D
Turbulent Perlod of Adolescence (60-min tape, catalog #FP-23-1 (Copeland) Source: Audio-Digest Foundation, 1250 S Glendale Ave, Glendale, CA 91205 Cost: $5.40, C-60 cassette or standard 5-in reel Recognition and Management of the Delinquant Chlld Rlght Now (5:45-min tape, catalog #7) (Westman) Dellnquent and His Family (5:40-min tape, catalog #174) (Whittaker) Source: Wisconsin Dial Access Tapes, Department of Continuing Medical Education, 610 Walnut St, Madison, Wl 53706 Cos!: $4 '14- inch audiotape; $1 0 Echomatic cartridge
COURSES International Forum on Adolescence: The Adolescent ln Today's Society (24 hr) Jul 4-7, 1976, Jerusalem, Israel Contact: American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, 24 Green Valley Rd, Wallingford, PA 19086 Cost: $75 For deta1ls on how ta use ReadySource. see page 194.
213
ISSN: 0032-5481 (Print) 1941-9260 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ipgm20
Why the angry adolescent? Robert E. Switzer To cite this article: Robert E. Switzer (1976) Why the angry adolescent?, Postgraduate Medicine, 59:5, 209-213, DOI: 10.1080/00325481.1976.11714368 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00325481.1976.11714368
Published online: 07 Jul 2016.
Submit your article to this journal
View related articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ipgm20 Download by: [Australian Catholic University]
Date: 22 August 2017, At: 20:23
•
1pma annais
Downloaded by [Australian Catholic University] at 20:23 22 August 2017
from the 60th annual postgraduate medical assembly
• Adolescence is really the last stage of childhood. By nature it is a normal interruption of a peaceful growth and development process. It is punctuated by explosive, fluid, and erratic behavior which, if indulged in at any other time of life, would be considered grossly neurotic or even psychotic. The adolescent at times rushes headlong into adulthood and at times tries evasive actions to avoid it; turns away from childhood while holding on to childhood gratifications; works toward giving up childhood dependency before being actually independent. Each youngster is pushed into adulthood by physiologie growth and maturation and at the same time desires it and fears it. This turbulent period is indeed inescapable. Thus, in many ways, the behavior of today's youth is not really new. About 800 BC, the Greek poet Hesiod stated, ''1 see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly ali youth are reckless beyond words.'' About 2,300 years ago Soc rates observed, ''These are indeed perilous times. Our young people are rebellious towards established authority. They are indifferent to convention and no longer neat in appearance. They are openly disobedient to their parents. If these are to become the future leaders, there is indeed little hope for the world.'' The youth of today, however, seem to be more rebellious than any of their predecessors. The recklessness has become aggressiveness; the frivolity, anger; the rebelliousness has turned to defiance; disobedience to militancy. Wh y? And are these feelings justifiable? Can they be changed?
why the angry adolescent? RobertE. Switzer, MD Eastern State School and Hospital Trevose, Pennsylvania
Understanding the reasons behind the angry behavior of youth today is a necessary first step in effecting changes. The onus is on adults to see that basic needs of children are fulfilled and that initial energy and enthusiasm are channeled into productive, meaningful activities.
A Glanee at History
At the turn of the century, industrialization and urbanization were radically changing life-styles. For many families, the labor of their children in mines or mills meant the difference between eating and starving. For others, the burden of rearing children was too great, and children were abandoned in increasing numbers, to such an extent that institutions had to be set up to care for them. The juvenile court system that came into being in the late 1800s grew into a system that could incarcerate youngsters for indeterminate periods without formai charges, without hearings, and without informing the parents. Many acts considered offenses in the juvenile justice system were perfectly legal in the adult system. ~
Vol. 59 • No. 5 • May 1976 • POSTGRADUATE MEDICINE
209
Downloaded by [Australian Catholic University] at 20:23 22 August 2017
Sex and violence have become part of the socialization process and have contributed to changing ideas about human values and worth.
In 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt called the first White House Conference toreview the circumstances and prospects of the nation's children. Since then, a White House Conference devoted to children and youth has been called by the President about every ten years. The purpose of each conference is to advise the American people, in their roles as parents, educators, legislators, health care workers, and advisors, among others, of the needs of children. The conclusions reached by these conferences stand out as expressions of high and noble hope, but unfortunately they have been largely ignored. At the time of the first conference, child labor was a fact of !ife. A constitutional amendment to protect the well-being and health of children against child labor abuses was drawn up but was not passed by the legislature. (Not until the early 1930s was such a law adopted. Possibly the tight job market then prevailing had something to do with its acceptance.) The conference protested against the institutionalization of dependent, neglected, or troubled children and suggested that these children be cared for in family settings whenever practicable. The "warehouses" of children found across the country until very recently were stark witness to how well this advice was taken. The conference held in 1919 at the end of the Great W ar framed the Child Health and Welfare Standards that were designed to '' give every child a fair chance.'' The five conferences held since then have repeatedly listed the needs of children and the rights they should expect from a democratie system. But these conferences have accomplished little, if anything.
its children and youth. The claim that we are a child-centered society, that we look to our young as tomorrow' s leaders is a myth. Our words are made meaningless by our actions--by our lack of national, community, and persona/ investment in maintaining the health and development of our young, by a tende ney to rely on a proliferation of simple, one-facto red, short term and inexpensive remedies and services. As a tragic consequence, we have in our midst millions of ill-fed, ill-educated and discontented youngsters and a/most ten million un der age 25 who are in need of help from mental health workers. Sorne means must be devised to de le gate clear responsibility and authority to insure the well-being of our young. Out of their deliberations, the Joint Commission stated a conviction that if hum an resources are to be developed and optimized, children and youth must be granted the following rights: • The right to be wanted. • The right to be born healthy. • The right to live in a healthy environment. • The right to satisfaction of basic needs. • The right to continuing, loving care. • The right to acquire the intellectual and emotional skills necessary to achieve individual aspirations and to cope effectively in society. • The right to receive care and treatment in facilities which are appropriate to their needs and which keep them as close! y as possible to their normal social setting. The Situation Today
The Rights of the Young
In 1970, the Joint Commission on the Mental Health of Children was set up by Congress in recognition of the fact that des pite years of rhetoric, few resources had been committed to the health and development of the young. The commission 1 declared: This nation, the richest of ail world powers, has no unified commitment to
210
From the foregoing very brief overview, it can be seen that there has been no Jack of governmental awareness of the problems of young people. Their needs have been voiced on many occasions. What has been the outcome? The youth of today face a confusing world of discrepancies and contrasts. They grow up surrounded by opulence but within view of
POSTGRADUATE MEDICINE o May 1976 • Vol. 59 o No. 5
Downloaded by [Australian Catholic University] at 20:23 22 August 2017
poverty, hunger, discrimination, and injustice. They have witnessed how technologie advances have enabled man to reach out to the moon and the planets, travel around the world in a day, communicate instant! y by satellite, annihilate the human race by pushing a button. They have witnessed how greed, neglect, . and ignorance have permitted pollution of air, water, and land. Sex and violence have become part of the socialization process and have contributed to changing ideas about human values and worth. Laws abolishing child labor have not put a stop to the mistreatment of children. Child abuse is becoming an increasing problem as the demands of living become more complex. Nationwide public agencies receive over 300,000 reports of suspected child abuse or maltreatment every year; over 2,000 children die each year in circumstances suggesting abuse or maltreatment. For every suspected case there are without doubt many more that remain hidden. Abused children in many cases become abusive parents. Many millions of American young people, along with their parents, still experience the degradation of living in poverty, and many others live in conditions of deprivation, if not actual want. The home atmosphere is one of helplessness and hopelessness. The children face a lifetime of substandard living conditions, probable malnutrition, unnecessary and untreated illness, and psychologie handicaps. They have Jess chance of being able to cornpete in school or for jobs than children from more affluent families. Three fourths of the nation's so-called retarded children are found in slum areas. Many children of poverty are destined to become dependents on, rather than contributors to, society. Many damaged children are born to malnourished or sick women who have bad inadequate or no medical care during pregnancy. Thousands of unwanted children continue to be born in the United States. Often the parents do not have access to birth control information and deviees. Unwanted children, because they do not receive consistent emotionally satisfying care, may never acquire the
Vol. 59 • No. 5 • May 1976 • POSTGRADUATE MEDICINE
Robert E. Switzer
Dr. Switzer is superintendent of the Eastern State School and Hospital, Trevose, Pennsylvania.
motivation or intellectual and emotional skills necessary to cape effecti vely in society. Many children-the emotionally disturbed, the mentally ill or retarded, the handicapped, the delinquent-do not receive care appropriate to their needs and in a setting closely allied to their normal social milieu. The number of children and adolescents receiving care in public institutions and psychiatrie facilities across the country is increasing, in contrast to the reduction in size of the general mental hospital patient population. In the early 1950s, a Senate committee studyingjuvenile delinquency discovered that more than 1 million youngsters were in trouble, half of them seriously enough to warrant court action. The number was found to have doubled in 15 years, a rate of increase much higher than that of the adolescent population. Gangs of adolescents engaged in acts of senseless violence. A drug problem was emerging. Unrestrained impulse expression seemed to be increasing. The adolescents involved were 6ften those from broken or conflict-ridden homes or with poor raie models in their homes, but just as often they were those who bad been given tao much, rather than tao little. The number of runaways was estimated at 300,000 per year, a number that was on the increase. The committee felt that the basic problem was not so much the behavior of the young as it was the unethical and immoral standards of the aider generation. The members concl uded that the final solution to the problem lay in each home and in the resources of each community . .,..
211
Downloaded by [Australian Catholic University] at 20:23 22 August 2017
Young people need to be provlded wlth good role modela and consistent discipline and to be taught to glve and recelve love and affection.
During the past decade, delinquency cases have again nearly doubled. One of two children living in slums becomes delinquent by age 18. Approximately half of the serious crimes are committed by juveniles. Between 1960 and 1970, juvenile arrests for violent crimes increased almost three times as fast as adult arrests. Violence has penetrated even the college carnpuses. School dropouts are involved in delinquent acts up to ten times as often as youngsters who remain in school. And many thousands of young people are dropping out of schools which are geared to academie achievement rather than to vocational interest. Many students are denied the opportunity to develop their potential through effective vocational training and meaningful work experience. They enter the adult world without skills and with diminished opportunities to become productive citizens. Suggested Solutions
It is obvious that the present atmosphere of violence, disrespect, confusion, and disillusion among the young is not a sudden phenomenon. Children and youth have been at risk for a long time. Society has lacked the ability or the will to facilitate the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Very little progress has been made in altering the inequities that victimize children perhaps most of ali. Input has much to do with output. According to the Cox Commission, society has "failed to transmit to many of our ablest young men and women either a sense of the values of reason, arder, and civility or an appreciation of the fact that freedom depends upon voluntary restraint. " 2 It seems to me that solutions must come from two directions. First, there must be a national coordinated commitment to fulfilling the basic needs and rights of ail of our people, not just the lucky few. The term "my children'' must be broadened to include ali children. As Bronfenbrenner put it: If the children and youth of a nation are afforded opportunity to develop
212
the ir capacities to the fullest, if they are given the knowledge to understand the work and the wisdom to change it, then the prospects for the future are bright. ln contrast, a society which neglects its children, however weil it may function in other respects, risks eventual disorganization and demise. 3 In addition to fulfillment of the rights listed by the Joint Commission on the Mental Health of Children, young people also need to be provided with good role models and consistent discipline and to be taught to give and receive love and affection. Second, the generation gap must be bridged. Margaret Mead4 has pointed out that ali those who grew up before World War II are: ... immigrants in time, immigrants from an earlier world, living in an age essentially different from anything else we knew before . .. .No generation has ever known, experienced and incorporated such rapid changes, watched the source of power, the means of communication, the definition of humanity, the limits of their own explorable universe, the certainties of a known and limited world, the fundamental imperatives of ail life and earth, ali changed before the ir eye s . ... We have to real ize that no other generation will ever experience what we have experienced. As long as any adult thinks that he, like parents and teachers of old, can become introspective, evoke his own youth to understand the youth before him, he is lost. But once the fact of a deep, new, unprecedented world-wide generation gap is firmi y established in the minds of both the young and the old, communication can be established again. Yaung people want to be lieve th at they are relevant and significant. They want a sense of responsibility. They must be allowed to participate in articulating and solving society's problems. They must be encouraged to believe that what happens to them depends, in large part, on what they themselves do rather
POSTGRADUATE MEDICINE o May 1976 o Vol. 59 o No. 5
than on what the system has decreed for them. The transition from childhood to adolescence and then to adulthood must be facilitated by adults. If, after years of inaction and worsening problems, still nothing is done, it may be weil to remember: "We get the kind of adolescents th at we de serve. 5 "
Downloaded by [Australian Catholic University] at 20:23 22 August 2017
Summary
The angry behavior of youth today is not a phenomenon but one that is becoming more widespread. The reasons behind it are many and varied. Government commissions formed to review the circumstances and prospects of
children in America have repeatedly pointed out the needs of youth, but their recommendations have largely been ignored. That "we get what we give" is particularly true in regard to the behavior of our youth. A national commitment must be made to fulfill the basic needs and rights ofall young people. They must be given responsibility for their own acts, and the transition from adolescence to adulthood must be facilitated by concerned, caring adults. • Address reprint requests to Robert E. Switzer, MD, Eastern State School and Hospital, 3740 Lincoln Highway, Trevose, PA 19047.
References 1. Joint Commission on Mental Health of Children: Challenge for the 1970s. (Final Report) Washington, OC, US Government Printing Office, 1969 2. Famswonh DL: The young adult: An overview. Am J Psychiatry 131:847, 1974 3. Miller CA: Health care of children and youth in America. Am J Public Health 65:358, 1975
readySOUrCe
4. Mead M: The generation gap. (Editorial) Science, Apr Il, 1969, p 135 5. Anthony J: The reactions ofadults to adolescents and their behavior. ln Esman AH (Editor): Psychology of Adolescence. New York, International University Press, 1975
THE ANGRY ADOLESCENT
BOOKS
DO
The Psychiatrie Dilemma of Adolescence (Masterson) Boston, Little, Brown & Co, 1967 Problems of Disadvantaged and Deprived Youth (Cull, Hardy) 1974 Problems of Adolescents: Social and Psychologie Approaches (Hardy, Cull) 1974 Springfield, Ill, Charles C Thomas, Publisher Youth: Problems and Approaches (Shamsie) Philadelphia, Lea & Febiger, 1972
AUDIOVISUALS Normal and Abnormal Behavior of Adolescence (Offer et al) Source: Behavioral Sciences Tape Library, 485 Main St, Fort Lee, NJ 07024 Cos!: $72 Adolescent Behavior Today (60-min tape, catalog #PD-21-11) (Fine)
Vol. 59 • No. 5 • May 1976 • POSTGAADUATE MEDICINE
D
Turbulent Perlod of Adolescence (60-min tape, catalog #FP-23-1 (Copeland) Source: Audio-Digest Foundation, 1250 S Glendale Ave, Glendale, CA 91205 Cost: $5.40, C-60 cassette or standard 5-in reel Recognition and Management of the Delinquant Chlld Rlght Now (5:45-min tape, catalog #7) (Westman) Dellnquent and His Family (5:40-min tape, catalog #174) (Whittaker) Source: Wisconsin Dial Access Tapes, Department of Continuing Medical Education, 610 Walnut St, Madison, Wl 53706 Cos!: $4 '14- inch audiotape; $1 0 Echomatic cartridge
COURSES International Forum on Adolescence: The Adolescent ln Today's Society (24 hr) Jul 4-7, 1976, Jerusalem, Israel Contact: American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, 24 Green Valley Rd, Wallingford, PA 19086 Cost: $75 For deta1ls on how ta use ReadySource. see page 194.
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