A construção do conceito de adolescência no Ocidente

The construct of the concept of adolescence in the West

Abstract

This article, whose theme is the construct of the concept of adolescence, aims at emphasizing the historic aspect of
such construct. In Medieval Times there was no awareness of the singularity of childhood; growth was seen merely as
a quantitative increase in physical and mental traits. In the 1800s, adolescence was labeled as a specifi c life period and,
throughout the century, tagged as a potentially risky time. The twentieth century consolidated the notion of teenage as a
time with its own features, retaining a legal and social status of its own. Our age is marked by the dissolution of certainties
and a feeling of helplessness that result in a complex and plural experience of being a teenager.