Teen Behavior
Where Does The Anger Come From?

Teen behavior actually makes sense, once you understand what adolescence is all about.

Adolescence is a time of transition from childhood to adulthood, from freedom to responsibility, and very few of us make it through that transition unscathed.

Anger is the "pushing away" emotion, and it comes in handy for an adolescent trying to push away from his or her parents.

This is your chance to get on the same page with your teen, and build a great relationship.

The Role Of Anger In Adolescent Behavior

All teens are not angry. The reason that a lot of them are is that rebellion, breaking the rules, and testing limits all go along with the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Adolescent rites of passage help the teen with this process, and take some of the pain out. This will help your teens become their own best anger management resource.

Here are some types of adolescent behaviors to consider:

Rites Of Passage

• Compliant--totally cooperative, attached to parents, not developing into adulthood


• Cooperative but independent--this is the healthiest behavior, where the teen is making the transition to adulthood without creating conflict with parents


• Rebellious, distant, but not breaking any laws or being abusive to parents


• Angry, violent and aggressive--may be involved in drugs, alcohol and/or illicit sexual behavior

You probably recognize your child somewhere in one of those descriptions. So now, of course, the question is, what do you do about it?

How To Encourage Healthy Teen Behavior

Adolescence is a challenging time, in the best of circumstances. You probably wouldn't be reading this if you were in the best of circumstances, so let's talk about how to deal with anger problems and other issues of teens in trouble.

• I created this Anger In Teens audio program specifically to help parents and other caregivers understand and deal with angry teen behavior in a variety of healthy, effective ways.


• The Adolescent Rites Of Passage program will teach you about rites of passage and how to create one for your own child or children.


• This page on adolescent anger management will point you to a huge variety of resources on and off this site.


• I strongly encourage you to check out the free offer currently available for James Lehman's Total Transformation program for troubled teens. This program and the Empowering Parents web site has helped thousands of parents like you bring peace and harmony to their homes.

Keep in mind that all teen behavior makes sense at some level. Your job as parent or caregiver is to understand the reasons and emotions behind your teen's actions and take effective action.

Listen to free previews now of these two excellent audio programs designed to help you help your teens: