So much of the development of the adolescent is a sequence of meetting new problems before old ones are solved that it is easy to view this period of growth negatively. But the positive side involves learning to react appropriately to stress, which is a normal part of living.
One investigator did a series of experiments with laboratory rats. He kept one group immobilized for extensive periods of time and found that they struggled desperately to get free. They needed to engage in all the activities that normally provided their ftiuired quota of stress. When deprived of these problem situations (some of which were quite stressful), they became ill in their efforts to maintain health. Another group of rats, with the same hereditary background (litter mates), which were allowed to engage in stressful situations, lived longer, healthier lives.
From his many studies of stress on human beings as well as animals, this researcher concludes that the individual has to learn to react to stress. He points out that when the individual chooses goals, he or she should not attempt primarily to avoid stress, which is a natural part of life, but rather should watch his or her own stress level. Knowing this level comes through experience. Human beings, like animals deprived of a wide variety of stress situations, do nut learn how to take care of themselves.
Facing too many problems too rapidly in an unfavorable environment may be unhealthy. With exceptions, of course, adolescence is a stage of development in our culture in which to discover oneself and gain independence in a semisympathetic environment. Adolescence provides a setting in which at each age groulp the individual problems have much in common. One may think positively of adolescence as a laboratory for experiences, for learning by trial and error, and for developing good problem-solving habits at the thinking level.
