International Journal of Social Psychiatry

The magnitude of cultural discontinuities in the individual American male and female life-careers has recently markedly increased for a number of contri butory reasons, chief among them increasing population and urbanization, and the "second industrial revolution." Because adolescence is the period of transition from childhood status and roles to adulthood status and roles, adolescents are most immediately affected by such discontinuities, chiefly by interiorization of them in the form of inner conflicts.

Much of the current behavior of American boys and girls reflects reaction to their respective sex-groups' socially induced conflicts—and may serve as a harbinger for other technologically advanced and advancing countries.