The grandfather of the study of the developing adolescent is G. Stanley Hall. He is credited with many early ideas that form the basis for the field of adolescent development. Hall felt that adolescent development was a mirror of the development of the species. More significantly, Hall believed that the development of the adolescent was controlled purely by biological forces, occurring in a universal pattern, regardless of environment or nurture (Rice 1999, 25). One of his earliest phrases, and one that still gets a lot of print, is the notion that adolescence necessarily involves what Hall called "Sturm and Drang" or in English, "Storm and Stress." He suggested that the turbulent times of adolescence are inevitable, that the best thing parents can do is to batten down the hatches and get ready.  Survival of the teen years is the goal, both for parents and for adolescents.

One interesting twist was provided by Arnold Gesell, writing in the early 20th century. He suggested that the emotional roller coaster in adolescence followed a "good year/bad year" pattern which was relatively constant from adolescent to adolescent. Rebellion and moodiness characterized the bad years while cooperation and relative pleasantness characterized the good. Good years were the even ages and bad years were the odd ages. His thoughts were appealing when a parent could say, "Aha! That explains why junior seems to have had a personality transplant since his last birthday!"

In contrast, writers like Margaret Mead have countered the biological explanation for the emotional ups and downs of adolescence by suggesting that the family and culture context had everything to do with the ride. Mead was a social anthropologist who pointed to the idea that social institutions, economic patterns, habits, rituals, and religious beliefs vary from culture to culture (Rice 1999, 45), and so the pattern of storm and stress is not necessarily predictable. Rebuttal to Mead's work has followed with one writer suggesting that all of Mead's work with Samoan teenagers was a hoax, the result of a joke that the teenagers played on Mead as she studied them (see J. E. Cote, Adolescent Storm and Stress: An Evaluation of the Mead-Freeman Controversy [Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1994]).

Hopefully, you scanned the background above and came to the correct conclusion that extreme positions for explanation of adolescent emotional behavior are not helpful. A combination of physical factors and environmental factors is most helpful in understanding the mood-swinging adolescent. Recent research on brain development (see physical development) contributes to the idea that the emotional wavering as teenagers try to make a decision is due to the fact that the part of their brain which has to do with judgment is not fully developed. On the other hand, the discussion on early and late maturers also gave us something to think about when we consider the emotional development of adolescents. If a young person is ahead or behind peers in physical development, the social interaction related to coping with an out-of-sync body contributes to emotional condition as well.

Nowadays most parents, youth workers, and even theorists who ponder adolescents do not feel like the storm and stress are a given. The hormonal explosion of the growth spurt undoubtedly contributes to the emotional condition of an adolescent. The often unstable family situations in the lives of some teenagers absolutely add to the moodiness. Neither can media influence, the volatile culture (cultures!), and the fast-paced world of school and friendships in which teenagers exist be discounted as factors in the equation. The emotional roller coaster of adolescence is a combination of all of the above.

Another dimension in the study of emotional development has to do with personality. As adults, we try to figure out whether our personality or leadership style is dominant, influencing, steady, or conscientious. Are we a "high D" or a "low I," and if so, how does that affect our interaction with other people? I personally like the younger version of the personality temperament, as presented in the delightful children's book, The Treasure Tree by Trent and Smalley, in which four best friends (a lion, an otter, a golden retriever, and a beaver) who have the same birthday, each receive a gift from Wise Old Owl. The point of the story is that each must use their own abilities, and they learn to appreciate their own personalities as well as those of their friends. Whether adult or child, we benefit from knowing the role of personality in our emotional development.

While admittedly oversimplified here, remember that personality encompasses most of what this whole development story is about, but briefly, personality has to do with:

• Temperament (shy or outgoing)
• Learning style
• Language
• Sex role (masculine or feminine)
• Relational style
• Identity

Anyone who works with youth is keenly aware of the large mood swings in teenagers. They tend to go from one extreme to another in just a few hours or even minutes. Experts who study adolescent behavior classify most of this as age-appropriate, normal, typical, and expected behavior of individuals in the adolescent cycle of life. Mood swings are not the key to understanding teenagers. Emotional developmental tasks relate to and are centered in this conflict raging in the lives of teenagers seeking to find out who they are apart from their parents (Rowley 1990, 49-50). Boshers notes, "Mood swings are not uncommon for teenagers. Mood swings are closely related to the physical and social changes teenagers face during adolescence. Also, their preoccupation with their developing identity can cause emotional turmoil" (Boshers 1997, 87).

Adolescents have not yet mastered the ability to balance anxieties and the frustrations of life. Many struggle with this well into adulthood. The teenagers' coping mechanisms, however, are not yet firmly in place. The wisdom of experience is not there to offer reassurance and solace (Stevens 1985, 61). Many teenagers appear unstable emotionally as they make the transition from thinking and acting like children to facing the pressures of being a mature adult. They are looking for a safe place to find themselves (Boshers 1997, 88). A value is something that has worth and is desirable. A task of youth ministry is to help youth develop a value of themselves and who God is in them. They must feel good about who they are before they are able to value other people, beliefs, and principles (Ross 1989, 60).

Many topics could be listed here, including delinquency, anger, stress, suicide, runaways, depression, and even hyperactivity. Some of the emotional disorders have physical roots, but many of them are a result of mismanaged or dysfunctional emotional development. Rice (1999, 399) said, "Sometimes adolescents who are emotionally upset turn outward, expressing pent-up emotions through various forms of acting-out behavior: truancy, aggressive behavior, promiscuity, theft, assault, rape, even the destruction of one's own life or that of another."

Eating disorders are another manifestation of emotions gone wrong. An estimated 20-30 percent of all teenage girls suffer from some sort of eating disorder; 90 percent of all eating disorder cases reported are female. More of an issue with women, females are more likely to think that they are overweight when they really aren't. Most agree that the root of eating disorders is self-esteem. Many with eating disorders are good students. The two major types of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

Anorexia, literally "a nervous loss of appetite," was first diagnosed in 1689. It involves an extreme preoccupation with weight, which quickly escalates into urgency to lose more weight. Weight loss is accomplished by fasting, excessive exercise, or laxatives. The typical anorexic is 12-16 years old when symptoms show. Symptoms may include irritability, perfectionist attitude, introverted personality, emaciated appearance, cold hands and feet, dry skin, thin head hair with a downy fuzz eventually appearing on other parts of the body, and the interruption or cessation of menstrual cycle.

Bulimia, "an insatiable appetite," is commonly known as the binge-purge disease, eating large amounts of food at a time followed by expulsion by various means. Vomiting by means of gagging with fingers or by taking drugs to induce nausea is combined with use of laxatives. Sometimes bulimics chew food and then spit it out. Symptoms may include fluctuating body weight (bulimics are rarely emaciated like anorexics), rapid or irregular heartbeat, broken blood vessels in the face, bags under the eyes, loss of tooth enamel because of gastric juices in the mouth, and the interruption or cessation of the menstrual cycle (Tan Flippin, "Eating Disorders: A Teenage Trend of the 90's," Youthworker Update, 3, 9. Flippin cited Love Hunger by Minrith and Meier, K. L. Nagel and Karen Jones, "Predisposition Factors in Anorexia Nervosa" in Adolescence 27, 106).

Some of the emotion is connected to hormones, while some of it is connected to their surroundings. In adolescence there is a predictable quest for identity, and the solving of the identity crisis is a significant struggle with many subplots. It is common for adolescents to respond to the emotional storm by shifting into neutral to avoid making decisions until their emotional maturity catches up.

Youth ministers, parents, and volunteer youth workers are extremely important in assisting in the navigation of adolescent emotions. If significant adults understand the wide range of normal emotion, they can more easily recognize when a teenager has strayed outside the norm and is in need of additional help. Learning to love, learning to feel, learning to channel anger and disappointment are all part of the "storm and stress" of adolescence. But adolescence need not be a dark period of storm and stress. Many adolescents who are nurtured by family and faith community emerge from the emotional tornado having had a rather enjoyable experience.

YQ: What about the emotions of your teenagers? Identify specific teenagers who are struggling with mood swings and emotional disorders. How can you minister to them?