challenge of adolescence

Adolescence means one thing above all else: [The individual] must prove that he is no longer a child (Adler p. 439). For some children, the challenge is too great. Adler listed adolescence among common exogenous factors precipitating psychological disturbances and maladaption, since adolescence "provides the child with new situations and new tests...[where] mistakes in his style of life may reveal themselves which were hitherto unobserved" (Adler p. 439).Children who have been trained and self-trained to be cooperators and contributors may be "stimulated by their new freedom" and may "see the road toward fulfillment of their ambitions clear before them" (Adler p. 44). Others, who are less well prepared to take advantage of this step toward adult responsibilities, will become discouraged at this point in their development.