Why do teenagers rebel against their parents?

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14 May 2015
Why do teenagers rebel against their parents?
There is an eternal friction between old and new. Mankind gets both enhanced and suffered by this friction. The most prominent area of this friction is generation gap which evolves a communication gap between teenagers and their parents. However, this rebellious nature cannot be dismissed by merely giving the fate of generation gap. Various external as well as internal factors provoke a teen to break the norms be it for good reason or bad. It has opined that time nurtures each generation in completely different ways and the development of thought process changes and neither the teenagers nor their parents can really be blamed for the rebellious nature (Heaven 52-53). In this essay, the psychological causes and the socio-cultural factors will be evaluated in order to view critically the reasons for rebels of the teenagers against their parents.
Critical Exploration of the Teenage Rebel:
On the contrary to the title of this essay, the blaming finger can also be directed towards the parents who always doubt and nullify whatever their children say taking the advantage of age. Hays and Phyllis state, “The eminent psychologists have enlightened with the point of being self sufficient at this age” (295-6). First of all, the boundary of teenage should be clarified. The concept of teenage is strongly related to the advent of puberty. Basically, at this point of age, the children with the help of education and interaction with people develop their own process of thinking and assessing.

They are no more inclined to the preaching of their parents. Actually, this has been the complaint of parents since time immemorial.
This essay will throw light upon the dynamics of psychology that a child goes through when he/she reaches the point of teenage. At this point, the kid becomes fully aware of his/her body organs and their response while experiencing any kind of sensation (Hays and Phyllis 301-2). They interact with the external world directly on their own and in this course of action, many beliefs and concepts get shattered that were initially stuffed into the mind of children by their parents. This, both overtly and covertly gives rise to a strong sense of anger, disappointment and restlessness. The teenagers fail to idealize their parents. Apart from that, at the same time, they realize their parents also belong to the group of people with flawed characters.
However, Heaven has marked the concerning issues related technological advancement day by day (114-7). Teenagers now focus more and more on internet, television and mobile phones and these gadgets tamper the mentality of those budding minds most. The parents fear that these things are slow poisoning their children. On the contrary, the teenagers perceive that their parents are restricting them unreasonably from their time of fun while mates are enjoying them to the fullest. And of course, the impact of the friend’s activities play key role for being rebellion. In this context, It has also been opined that if a teenager witness his/her friends to indulge into something that is not correct, he/she gets more dragged into that activity as they feel otherwise they will become outcaste (Hays and Phyllis 291-2).
Another thing becomes very significant in this context and that is the complete awareness of gender and the accordingly treatment from the society. This leads to their greater crisis of identity. They try to find out why there are limitations in mingling freely with opposite sex, why they cannot have the freedom like adults and why they are not allowed to listen to all kind of discussions. In the words of Heaven, “Simplistically, rebellions rebel to acquire freedom” (71-2). They get annoyed as they have to have parental consent for everything. Especially, the late teenagers who are nearing the adolescence struggle more to explain everything to their parents as firstly, they feel shy to tell and secondly the fear of rejection. Hormonal changes raise a many doubts and questions among them which parents cannot either suffice or understand. In fact, most of the parents tend to suppress the inquisitions of their children forcefully either by scolding or beating as the parents find it improper to answer and it can even lead the teenagers to be violent.
Teenagers go through the struggle for acceptance as well. Be it in the play group or in the family, they always try to act in a way so that they are valued equally with an adult. In reality, it usually does not happen and to make it happen often teenagers act drastically even harming themselves.
However, as it is said earlier, the teenagers are not completely responsible for their rebellious nature. The circumstances create situations where they are driven by impulsion and of course being impulsive and lack of experience make the teenagers boil with angers very easily. However, their age is characterized by rebel and many influential statesmen created difference and change in the society through their rebel. What is needed is proper counselling at home by the parents so that the teenagers can grow the wisdom to act practically and in any way rebels are not always bad.
Works Cited:
Heaven, Patrick CL. The social psychology of adolescence. Palgrave Macmillan. 2001. Print.
Hays, Ron D., and Phyllis L. Ellickson. Associations between drug use and deviant behavior in teenagers. Addictive behaviours. 1996. Print.