Changing Youth in a Changing Society Patterns of Adolescent Development and Disorder

Changing Youth in a Changing Society begins with a complete survey of the problems of youth, showing which disorderspeak during the teenage years. With thisbackground of fact firmly established, Rutter turns to the difficult historical questionsabout whether adolescent disorders aretruly becoming more frequent. Here Ruttershows that the news is not uniformly bad.Some psychosocial problems, such as teenage alcoholism and crime, are still on therise. But other problems, among them themuch heralded generation gap, turn out tobe largely mythical. Still others, like thedecline in educational achievement, mayonly reflect historical changes in the population of teenagers being assessed.Rutter's historical analysis supportsa comprehensive discussion of the causes ofadolescent disorder. The effects of heredity,childhood, family, school, peer group, religion, the media, and the urban environment are all assessed in review ofresearch which is a model of clarity andgood sense. This review provides the factual framework for informed recommendations for more effective prevention andtreatment of adolescent disorders.Rutter, Michael is the author of 'Changing Youth in a Changing Society Patterns of Adolescent Development and Disorder' with ISBN 9780674108752 and ISBN 0674108752.