Coming of Age: How Adolescence Shapes Us - Paperback

by Lucy Foulkes (Author)

'A wonderful and deeply moving book' --MARK HADDON, author of the bestselling The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
'Shows how today's adolescents can be helped to flourish in life' --Dr. Gavin Francis, author of The Sunday Times bestseller Adventures in Human Being
'Reveals adolescence's unwritten rules' --JO BRAND, actress and comedian
'Myth-busting, eye-opening' --The Guardian

Why do teenagers act as they do?

What we experience during adolescence shapes us for life, but psychologist Lucy Foulkes shows that too often we fear, dismiss or even try to prevent aspects of it that are crucial to our development. Drawing on decades of psychological research, and including profoundly moving interviews, Coming of Age gets beneath the recent myths and age-old stereotypes of adolescence to reveal the real reasons why teens behave the way they do.

Above all, Foulkes shows that adolescents have an extraordinary capacity for resilience, empathy and mutual support, and that even the most challenging encounters are part of an essential process of self-discovery.

Author Biography

Dr. Lucy Foulkes is an academic psychologist. She is currently a Prudence Trust Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, where she leads research into adolescent mental health and social development. She is the author of What Mental Illness Really Is (and What It Isn't) and has written for the Guardian, New Scientist and other publications. Her work has been reported in The Times, Economist, New York Times and Atlantic.