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Encyclopedia of Adolescence pp 2877–2885Cite as

Storm and Stress

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Overview

Adolescence has often been depicted as a period of “storm and stress,” a time in development in which trouble – with behavior, emotions, and relationships, especially with parents – is at a peak. Reasons for “storm and stress” have ranged from evolutionary considerations to hormones to accumulated life stresses. This essay reviews this conceptualization of “storm and stress,” evaluates current data relevant to “storm and stress” claims, and presents data suggesting that “storm and stress” expectations might contribute to actual or perceived “storm and stress.”

Storm and Stress Defined

Every article or book on “storm and stress” begins with G. Stanley Hall (1904), the founder of developmental psychology, who gets credit for first describing adolescence as a time of “storm and stress.” As the first person in the modern era to write extensively and empirically about adolescent development, his views were influential. To say adolescence was a time of storm and stress was to say...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Christy Buchanan

  2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work, 325 Pittsboro St, CB # 3550, 27599-3550, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Johna L Hughes

Authors
  1. Christy Buchanan
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  2. Johna L Hughes
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Correspondence to Christy Buchanan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana University, 302 Sycamore Hall, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Roger J. R. Levesque

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Buchanan, C., Hughes, J.L. (2011). Storm and Stress. In: Levesque, R.J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_111

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_111

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1694-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1695-2

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science

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