the Age of anxiety

The modern technological world has been aptly characterized as “the Age of anxiety”. Such characterization arises from the fact that at every stage of human development — from conception through birth, early childhood, late childhood, adolescence, adulthood, to old age and death the individual is subjected to a number of stresses and conflicts to which he must make continuous adjustments. But perhaps there is no stage of development at which these stresses and conflicts are more acute than at adolescence since, at this stage, physiological changes combine with psychological and societal factors to make that period a particularly critical one for the individual. The degree of success which the adolescence attains in coping with these problems will determine his effectiveness and overall satisfaction in life. The major objective of my paper is to describe these factosr that make for stress at the adolescent stage and to outline some suggestions which those in the helping professions such as career masters and mistresses, as well as other teachers and parents could adopt to help these children to cope with this difficult period of their development