ABSTRACT
The concept of adolescence is a familiar one, and, yet, the limits are expansive. There is no single way to characterize the many discursive constructions that shape what it means to be a young person growing up in today’s complex, technological, and globalized world. From a research perspective adolescence tends to be considered a psychological and social transition period between late childhood and early adulthood. Individuals enter this phase of development having acquired social-cognitive abilities during childhood—ways of orienting, constructing, and understanding the social world they inhabit—based on everyday life experiences at home, school, and through the media. During adolescence, social relationships and identity development are particularly salient. As adolescents interact increasingly with others in different physical and virtual life spaces, they find themselves “facing the external world” and meeting “diverse views” about the thoughts and emotions that are considered “‘reasonable,’ ‘appropriate,’ or ‘expected’” (Brizio, Gabbatore, Tirassa, & Bosco, 2015, p. 1).
