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It is a paradox that during the years of psychosocial development each man has to achieve an identity, a role in which he can feel secure, and yet poets and philosophers tell us that man is forever seeking to diminish the isolation which a personal identity imposes. Without the development of a personal identity and a role in life the individual remains a social isolate, a dependent parasite or a social deviant. Yet, once achieved, identity brings a new awareness of separateness from others and a need to merge the self with others, to identify with someone or something else. This would seem to be a main objective of love. It has been said that human love is the supreme act of communication with another, a merging of identity, and poets speak of communicating with nature or with God in like terms. Romantic and sacred literature abound in metaphors and images describing the bliss which such activity offers. If it is true that while we have a need to develop a sense of personal selfhood, an identity and a role, we have a further need to diminish the separateness such awareness imposes, how do we go about it? The contemporary answer is, of course, by communication, by relating to others. The better the communication we have with others, the greater our sense of belongingness, the less the pain of individual isolation. It is not necessary to emphasize that a cardinal feature of all severe mental illness is either a loss or a distortion of the individual's communicative capacity. But I would like to emphasize that the debate as to whether failure of communication is either a cause, or an association, or a consequence of mental illness is not my theme.

Individual differences were obtained in a task requiring the same-different comparison of multiobject scenes. For some Ss, performance depended only on whether the objects were in a physically plausible arrangement. It was inferred that these Ss used internalized rule systems to interrelate arrays of objects into organized scenes. For the other Ss, performance depended on whether the objects belonged together, and whether their arrangement was familiar. It was inferred that these Ss dealt with each object on an individual basis, using information concerning belongingness and familiarity of arrangement to anticipate which objects would be present and where they would be located.

Specific reasons reported for use of six illicit drugs—cannabis, opiates, hallucinogens, amphetamines, barbiturates, and cocaine—were obtained from 997 entrants to a Navy drug rehabilitation facility. Reasons were divided into two categories: hedonistic and therapeutic. Subjects were classified by level of involvement based upon light or heavy use of each drug. Reasons given by both light and heavy users of hallucinogens and cocaine were predominantly hedonistic. Heightened sentience and “psychedelic” experiences appeared to be the objective of hallucinogen users whereas heightened sexual pleasure was the primary motive for cocaine users. Reasons for using amphetamines, barbiturates, and opiates were almost exclusively therapeutic among heavy users. Amphetamines were used to improve functioning and relieve depression, and barbiturates to relieve anxiety. Reasons for using opiates included both of these components, and opiate users appeared to be seeking a pervasive feeling of well being as well as “escape from reality.” Reasons for cannabis use were diverse and suggested desires for intoxication, relaxation, social belongingness, and heightened sensory awareness.

Summary. There are broadly two models for vocational guidance, estimating respectively the ‘efficiency’ of the individual against a performance criterion and ‘belongingness or adjustment’ based on similarity to the typical member. The former has attractions of positiveness, but data for the latter are easier to get. It is shown in this paper that, with certain reasonably acceptable assumptions, mean occupational profile data can be used via the point-biserial to get regression equations permitting the more convenient usage of the ‘efficiency’ approach (though the criterion is still ‘adjustment’). An illustrative example is worked, discussion is given of how the proposed ‘adjustment score’ functions, and a tentative decision rule is stated.

The generalizability of the Byrne-Nelson attraction function to the evaluation of group attractiveness and group cohesiveness was investigated by varying both the proportion of person-group or intergroup attitude similarity (.25, .50, or .75) and the proportion of within-group or intragroup attitude similarity (.33, .50, or .83) and having the experimental S evaluate the stimulus group for its attractiveness and its probable level of cohesive functioning. The mythical 3-person stimulus group which each S evaluated was presented as being comprised of the likely participants in a discussion group being considered for another psychological experiment. Group attractiveness was measured by scales for liking and desire to work with the group, and group cohesiveness was assessed with scales asking for evaluations of the group's probable level of productivity, efficiency, feelings of belongingness, and morale. Evaluation of group attractiveness is a positive function of person-group attitude similarity or the similarity of the group's members to S ( p < .001), whereas the evaluation of group cohesiveness is a positive function of similarity of intragroup attitude or the similarity of the group's members to one another independent of their similarity to the nonmember-evaluator ( p < .001).

S OCIAL scientists have devoted considerable attention to the so-called "informal" activities found in industrial concerns. The impetus was provided by the Hawthorne studies of Elton Mayo and his colleagues. These studies demonstrated that workers tend to form informal groups whose norms become binding to the group members. The kind of group found in the bankwiring room of the Hawthorne works has become a theme of industrial research of the past twentyfive years. Informal groups are seen as existing in every factory, indeed, in every social organization having a degree of permanence. Their characteristics may be summarized thus: they provide individuals with norms, which are sometimes at variance with those held by management; they are a form of social control (members are disciplined by the group); and, finally, the groups provide satisfactions for members (the satisfactions of "belongingness," of being with persons who share one's attitudes and aspirations). When there are no informal or primary-type groups, as during periods of heavy labor turnover, it is held that "morale is bound to be low and social life negligible."' Individuals are believed to find the main outlet for their "personal bonds" in such primary groups.2 Whatever the validity of these findings, it cannot be denied that the informal activities of nonlaborers in industry-of professionals and managers-have been largely omitted from consideration.3 Equally neglected are the long range effects of informal relationships between persons in a work situation: Is contact maintained between the informal group members after they have left? And, if so, what is the nature of these contacts and what functions are served? This paper addresses itself to this neglected area, especially in regard to professionals. Its focus is a phenomenon which is well known, but which has not been systematically studied. The phenomenon is the practice, largely on the part of professionals, of keeping in touch with colleagues with whom they worked at one time or another. The contact which is maintained may be quite sporadic-an annual Christmas card or a chance meeting at a professional convention may be the extent of it. Apparently the persons thus keeping in contact are not necessarily close friends; they may not have had intimate working relationships when they were employed in the same company. But they did have "informal contact" and this is being maintained. It is suggested that in some professions-such as engineering and academic teaching-individuals thus establish themselves in nationwide "networks of contacts." One utilization of these contacts occurs when the individual seeks a new job. If engineer "A" has his eye on working for company "x" located a thousand miles away, he will not ordinarily begin by making the thousand-mile trip to the company and presenting himself to the personnel manager. He will not, even, begin by writing to the personnel manager of company "x." Instead, he will first contact his former colleague who works at "x." From him he may find out a great deal more about the company than the personnel manager might have been willing or able to tell him. He may learn what kind of man his would-be boss is; how the company "treats" a man in his specialty, and in which department a vacancy exists. Indeed, his former colleague may have contacted him in the first place to tell him about a particular vacancy. Another use of the contact network is for the individual to feed into it the fact that he is "not too happy" in his present position. If the individual has some prominence in his profession he will soon find job offers coming his way. He can use these for getting a different position. But he can-and sometimes does-use them as bargaining devices to improve his lot in his present company. * Read before the twenty-first annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society, Asheville, North Carolina, April 11, 1958. I am indebted for valuable suggestions to Professor E. W. Noland, Miss A. C. Maney, and Messrs. G. Tracy, B3erton Kaplan, and Alvin Katz. I am indebted, also, to Dr. H. L. Smith for providing numerous insights into the study of professionals. I J. A. C. Brown, The Social Psychology of Industry (New York: Penguin B3ooks, 1954), p. 133. 2 See, for example, Robert Dubin, Human Relations in Administration (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1951), pp. 57-68. 3 P. M. Blau's The Dynamics of Bureaucracy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955) is a notable exception.

The author illustrates briefly the type of research projects which may be expected to emerge from the field-theoretical formulation of sociological and sociopsychological problems. A "total behavior" technique of observation of group and individual child behavior is briefly described which attempts to record all maningful social behavior in its proper relationship to other facts of the "total field" of coexisting phenomena influencing behavior. By the experimental manipulation of the social atmospheres of two children's clubs, using the variable of authoritarian versus democratic leadership methods, it is indicated that quantitative and qualitative data were secured which seem to clarity in a preliminary, empirical fashion, such dynamic concepts as group locomotion, group goal, degree of group unity, group stratification, group and member space of free movement, social powerfield, degree of belongingness, and membership status. A preliminary approach to the problem of analyzing tha same material (social-b...

The present article reports data on the family relations of bright high school boys making good grades as compared with bright high school boys making mediocre or poor grades. Of numerous studies of school achievement, few have obtained data regarding family relations correlates. These few have indicated a positive association between student achievement and emotionally supportive home situations. This general finding applies to elementary school pupils (4, 9, 15, i8, 20,), high school students (13, 14), and college students (12). More specifically, parents of high-achievers have been found to give their children more praise and approval (i8), to show more interest and understanding (I9), to be closer to their children (14), to make their children feel more family "belongingness" (20) and identification with parents (i9). On the other hand, parents of under-achievers have been reported to be more domineering (12, 14) and overrestrictive (18) and to use more severe and frequent punishment (4, I4), which is at the same time less effectual (4). Parents of under-achievers have also been found more likely either to baby their youngsters or to push them excessively (9) and to present to their

O objetivo deste artigo é discutir a construção da identidade social dos estudantes bolsistas integrais do Programa Universidade para Todos (ProUni) em relação ao seu pertencimento à educação superior e à faculdade privada, tomando por base a ideia de “ruptura” em sua identidade social a partir do contato com uma nova fronteira social. Para tanto, realizamos análise de entrevistas semiestruturadas com bolsistas integrais ProUni no Estado de Pernambuco, mediada pelas teorias do capital cultural e do habitus, de fronteira simbólica e de configuração estabelecidos-outsiders. Esperamos contribuir para um melhor entendimento do impacto causado pela possibilidade de cursar a educação superior na construção da identidade destes estudantes.

cultural standards of men, they are perceived as a threat and tensions increase? Of what significance are regional and community variations in the treatment of and degree of participation permitted women, mindful here that women share responsibility with men for the perpetuation of attitudes toward women? This paper is exploratory in suggesting the enhanced possibilities of fruitful analysis, if women are included in the minority group corpus, particularly with reference to such concepts and techniques as group belongingness, socialization of the minority group child, cultural differences, social distance tests, conflict between class and caste status, race relations cycle, and marginality. I believe that the concept of the marginal woman should be especially productive, and am now engaged in an empirical study of role conflicts in professional women.

Many studies have been carried on showing the relationship between parental attitudes and varia tions in the personality of the child. Research has demonstrated that negative parental attitudes, whether representing overt hostility, ambivalence, or a neutral, passive relationship between child and parents, may result in the following behavior al manifestations in children: 1) feelings of in security and extreme sensitivity to attention(5,6); 2) shy, withdrawn, submissive behavior (2); or 3) aggressive or dominant behavior (3, 8). Relatively little research has been carried on j which concerns itself with the influence of parent j attitudes on academic achievement (1,7), although j in reality achievement is one manifestation of personality. A student who fails to achieve up to i capacity may be a student who is not motivated to | do so, and one of the most important factors inj fluencing the motivation of children is parental j attitudes. Abraham Maslow of the Nebraska ? Symposium in 1955, explained this motivation to| wards achievement which results from parental acceptance in terms of self-actualization (4): "So far as motivational status is concerned, healthy individuals have sufficiently gratified their basic needs for safety, belongingness, love, respect, and self-esteem so that they are motivated prim arily by trends toward self-actualization. " The present study, then, was undertaken to de termine whether there is a significant relationship between parental acceptance,as perceived by both parents and children, and the academic achieve ment of the latter.

The drug addict is generally a poor candidate for psychotherapy. He “enjoys” his symptom, described by Rado (1957) as an “instantaneous superpleasure.” He seeks immediate gratifications such as opiates supply. The addict typically demonstrates low pain and frustration tolerance, and a low threshold for depression and anxiety. Social alienation is prevalent and the addict often experiences some sense of identity and belongingness through his associations with other addicts. These problems are underscored in a voluntary, community setting. This is because of the availability of drugs, the absence of coercion and “special” incentives (e.g., medication or funds), and the unremitting impact of environmental stresses in the addict’s life. Such factors make community group treatment particularly formidable. A group psychotherapy study was conducted at Greenwich House Counseling Center, a community psychiatric clinic providing treatment ’ Paper read at the American Group Psychotherapy Association meeting in New

Individuals of high "special personal prestige" belong to the elite of their group. Social ascendancy, however, is directed toward a position of high total social prestige. Such social prestige can be attained only when an individual holds an elite position in several elite groups that belong to elite categories. Some groups and categories are firxed (for instance, those of family and racial belongingness); others allow for horizontal and vertical social mobility. Individual efforts will, therefore, tend to make use of the freedom of changing groups, where such change is feasible. Where belonging to a group is fixed, trends for social improvement will take the form of gaining enhanced prestige for one's group and category. Intragroup prestige is largely achievement prestige, qualified, however, by the phenomenon of transfer of intergroup prestige and intercategorial prestige. This transfer is a cause of intragroup struggle and sometimes the cause of group collapse or shifting of group functions. Group str...

Eighty-six residence hall upperclassmen and one hundred fraternity upperclassmen were compared in the areas of college ability, achievement, and attitudes; values utilizing college records, and the College Student Questionnaire. Findings revealed significant differences for the residence hall group in the areas of social conscience, satisfaction with major, and peer independence (p < .05) and for the fraternity sample in the area of extracurricular involvement (p < .01). No significant differences were found in either college ability or achievement. Analysis of other demographic data revealed significant differences in the areas of dating behavior and financial support. Findings indicate no lasting effect on overall college achievement by fraternities and cast some doubt on their selection procedures. Attraction of fraternity members who possess a strong need to belong and pressures for conformity in choice of majors by the fraternities was also in evidence.

The results of a cross-national and inter-caste study of three personality variables (belongingness, anxiety and self-sufficiency) are reported. The hypothesis that the economic factors would tend to influence the relationship between belongingness and anxiety in a non-affluent society (following Moslow's hierarchical theory of motivation) found some support in the cross-nationa, inter-caste, sex, urban-rural and single-married differences. The changes in the traditional caste system as a result of Constitutional Provisions and social factors are also discussed. The results of the present study are not considered conclusive and areas for further research are indicated.

Pimpri Colony represents an island of Sindhi language and cultural tradition, where about 8,000 refugees live in relative isolation from their surrounding Maharashtrian neighbours. To a Westerner, the existence of such a cultural island might seem to be a cause for alarm; and he would perhaps suggest measures for increasing social interaction between the two communities, such as bringing together leaders and representatives of both sections, or the mutual association of young people's groups or religious associations. Nothing of this sort, apparently, has been done so far at Pimpri or Poona. On the other hand, the present system is perfectly in line with India's traditional solution of social problems-the co-existence of social units which lie side by side, which mutually tolerate and mutually ignore one another. In this system there may be economic interdependence and a certain amount of rather formalized social intercourse, but otherwise the various social islands pursue separate existences. If a campaign were ever undertaken to break down the barriers between Sindhis and Maharashtrians, it would only be logical to include, as corollary objects for attack, the barriers of isolation between castes among the Maharashtrians and regional groups among the Sindhis. This problem, which faces India as a whole, appears in miniature at Pimpri where the General Panchayat is trying to find means of establishing a community esprit de corps. The various regional panchayats still fulfill an important social function, for the regional unit represents a close in-group and it probably provides a much greater feeling of belongingness for its members than the more arbitrary neighborhood grouping. This means that it will take considerable time for wider community ties and responsibilities to become established. It is the opinion of the writer that proponents of the General Panchayat are right in supporting a united organization to represent the camp as a whole and are thoroughly justified in combating the selfseeking motives of politicians who use the regional panchayats as springboards to power and influence. But at the same time it would be unfortunate if the positive social functions of the regional panchayats were to distintegrate. Refugees naturally have a strong need to feel part of an in-group, and among the Sindhis of Pimpri at the present time the region of origin still seems to provide the most important basis for association.

65 college students completed an attitude survey and subsequently received an attitude survey covering the same issues which purportedly represented the attitudes held by most of the members of a college fraternity or sorority. Ss then filled out a judgment scale calling for evaluations of the organization's likely feelings of belongingness, cooperative atmosphere, sense of group unity, and pride in the organization. In addition, they indicated how much they would probably like the fraternity or sorority and how much they would enjoy being a member. The hypothesized effect of attitude similarity on attraction was confirmed for both liking and desire to be a member. Perceptions of feelings of belongingness and cooperative atmosphere were also significantly influenced by similarity of attitudes.

Since the time of Vittorino da Feltre, or earlier, each century has witnessed attempts at naturalizing and socializing the educational process, attempts which have culminated in the more recent philosophies of William Harris, Francis Parker, John Dewey, and others.1 This emphasis upon self-activity and social participation as essential elements of an adequate school program has resulted in a general realization that the educational objectives and outcomes of the traditional school program are not sufficient. The current popularity of curriculum revision programs, both local and state-wide, attests the extent to which public opinion has renounced formalistic and pedantic teaching. Renunciation, as used here, does not imply complete alienation from the traditional curriculum; instead, it is used to mean a disposal of only those elements which are neither conducive to orienting and adapting the individual child to the current social order nor of value in helping individuals to play an intelligent role in planning for a constantly improving society.2 The philosophy of this newly revised curriculum is to enable the child to adjust himself to society with a minimum of discomfiture; to so respet the abilities, interests, and experiences of the child that the individual will experience little effort in meeting the demands of the social group. To achieve such a highly desirable objective the individual must have an opportunity to become an actual participant in group life. He must be made to feel a sense of belongingness, to sense that he has traits, aptitudes, and abilities which have a marketable value from the standpoint of group approval. There is no more pitiable sight than that of a child who feels that he is unwanted in his group, who feels that he has no saleable assets which might prove of interest or value to a fellow consumer. Harris remarks

The generalizability of the Byrne-Nelson attraction function to the evaluation of group attractiveness and group cohesiveness was investigated by varying both the proportion of person-group attitude similarity (.25, .50, or .75) and the proportion of intragroup similarity (.33, .50, or .83) and having the experimental S evaluate the stimulus group for its attractiveness and its probable level of cohesive functioning. Group attractiveness was measured by scales for liking and desire to work with the group, and group cohesiveness was assessed with scales asking for evaluations of the group’s probable level of productivity, efficiency, feelings of belongingness, and morale. It was found that the evaluation of group attractiveness is a positive function of person-group attitude similarity (p

The impact of child-parent and interchild relationships on personality development and, in particular, on interpersonal relations, are in Chapter Twenty the point of issue of a discussion on the vital importance of loneliness versus belongingness for mental health. Belongingness is related to affiliation to community. The comparison of our differentiation between society and community with that of Toennies’ Gesellschaft and Gemeinschaft will be dealt with, as well as a comparison between active adjustment and passive adjustment, with Toennies’ rational will and natural will (Wesenswille and Kurwille). General adjustment is the psychodynamism for acquiring, preserving or regaining not only an inner equilibrium but also the therefore necessary status and place in Gesellschaft, allowing affiliation to Gemeinschaft or its Ersatz. A brief review of some outstanding publications on the import of loneliness as against belongingness will be followed by a recapitulation of data of the four case histories reported in Chapter Seven, illustrating relevant aspects of personality development. In a concluding paragraph migration and belonging will be depicted as ubiquitous problems of mental health.

Summry.4 open-ended questions were administered to 113 Ss taught by 2 male instructors (71 male Ss; 42 female Ss) and to 48 Ss taught by a female insuuctor (27 male Ss; 21 female Ss). AU Ss were undergraduate students at a southern state university. Ten percent of the male Ss and 26% of the females in the male instructors' classes thought there was nothing good about being a woman. Only 5% of the female instructor's female students thought there was nothing good about being a woman. This research suggests a quzzl~fied female instructor can enhance self-image of women students. Grossack (1956) stated considerable empirical and theoretical evidence suggests that belonging to an underprivileged minority group affeas individual members differently from belonging to more desirable social groups. Role expectations, self-perceptions, and cognitions show evidence of unflsaering images of self as a person and group member. The authors know of no previous research on sex differences related to group membership although Grossack (1956) did study group belongingness of 183 black students, 126 of whom were college students. The present study assessed sex differences in group belongingness and the effect of instructor's sex on group belongingness. Grossack's (1956) open-ended questions were changed from "What does being a Negro mean to you?" to "What does being a woman (man) mean to you?" His second question "What are some of the good things about being a Negro?" was changed to "What are some of the good things about being a woman (man)?" The third question was "What are some of the bad things about being a Negro?" and was changed to "What are some of the bad things about being a woman (man)?" The fourth and last question asked by Grossack (1956) was "What does the future hold for the Negro people?" to "What does the future hold for women (men)?" The 161 Ss were undergraduates at a southern state university. The female instructor was teaching introductory psy:hology and social psychology and two male instructors were teaching freshman English and psychological analyses applied to contemporary social problems. Ss were given the questionnaires during regularly scheduled classes. Like responses were grouped into categories defined by S's distinctly expressed ideas (cf. Grossack, 1756). Since the questions were open-ended, some Ss included more than one answer. Table 1 shows the number and percentages in each response category by question for both men and women. It was apparent that one of the bad things about being a man was having "responsibilities" or primarily being subject to the national draft at the present time. Some males thought it was good to be a man, because they did not have to bear children, while some females thought bearing children was good. Three males indicated standing up to urinate was a good thing, while no females mentioned this inability as bad. A nomograph (Zubin, 1939) was used to determine the significance of differences found on question number 4. More males in the female instructor's classes than in the male instructors' classes indicated the future held equality between the sexes (P = .05), and

Considerable theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that belonging to an underprivileged minority group has differential consequences on individual members than does membership in more desirable social units. The member of a minority group more likely experiences forces to leave his group that encounter overpowering barriers. Cognitions, role expectations, and self-perceptions show evidence of uncertainty and unflattering images of oneself as a person and group member are common. A review of the growing literature in this area will be followed by a report on Negro characterizations of their group membership, a tentative typology of Negro belongingness, and an attempted theoretical integration of the gener;d problem of minority group membership.

Preliminary data for an experimental questionnaire are described.

In order to study two variables in word associates, i. e., value and meaning continuum, a total of 261 Ss were tested on a 100-stimulus word list where a rating-scale value for the belongingness to the concept “economic” for each word had been established. Three groups of Ss were tested for: IA the first associate only; IB the second associate only; and II for both first and second associates. A fourth group (N = 35) gave 10-serial word responses to 8 selected stimulus words. The results indicate that the first associates are more strongly associated in value to the original words than the second associations and there is a decreasing rated value from original to first to second associates. Further, associations are produced serially in a meaningful way in varying strengths to the original word.

O NE approach to the study of social classes is to view them as referent groups. In contrast to a stratum which consists of a number of individuals occupying a relatively similar position on some objective characteristic such as income or occupation, a class is viewed as a "psychological phenomenon in the fullest sense of the word. That is, a man's class is a part of his ego, a feeling on his part of belongingness to something; and identification with something larger than himself."' Richard Centers' work constitutes the most developed treatment of the psychological approach to social classes. His research was based on a conceptual scheme termed "the interest theory of social class structure," in which a person's status and role as they are related to the economic aspects of social life are presumed to impose upon him values and attitudes which, to a high degree, are shared by others, and which give rise to a consciousness of membership in a particular social class.2 Centers investigated the interest theory formulation of social classes by asking two national quota control samples of male adults to place themselves in one of four social classes. Each respondent was asked the following question, "If you were asked to use

C. Wright Mills would have enjoyed writing an essay about the contemporary research on voluntary associations. He would have found two of his favourite enemies: abstracted empericism, and a species of value bias similar to that of the 'social pathologists' whom he despisedonly in this case the bias is not rural romanticism but suburbanitis. The only missing polemic would be the one on grand theory. The reason is quite obvious: there is not much theory on voluntary associations, grand or otherwise. By ignoring the contributions of anthropologists, philosophers, political scientists, economists, and religious scholars we have lost touch with the contextual issues which might have helped to control bias and particularism.' The matter has been made worse within sociology by treating voluntary associations as a separate topic or simply as a dependent variable in community participation studies, while not placing the topic in the context of general organizational research.2 As a consequence of this specious parochialism one frequently encounters romantic notions about participatory democracy, such as: community members unite in the pursuit of common interests of their own free will, gain satisfaction with democracy, and satisfy the need to belong. The impression that a new theoretical start was needed grew out of the experience of trying to explain some findings regarding the voluntary associations of Negroes in a southern U.S. city.3 Available research provided no theory to explain the observation that co-racial social relations at work were a basic source of community participation, or that voluntary associations apparently took action contrary to their stated purposes. The object of this paper is to develop a theoretical approach which more adequately accounts for the social environment in which voluntary associations exist. To this end, two kinds of relationships with the organization are examined. The first concerns those aspects of opposition and support which the organization, and its members in member

Adolescence has long left the silent zone and is a well studied phenomenon. The child entering this extended developmental stage is confronted by a world of rapid uncertain change, social and cultural upheaval, expanding technology with complex vocational pressures. In his search for identity, he can expect and is expected to go through a period of turmoil, where the boundaries of normality and pathology are notoriously indefinite to health professionals, society and even to the adolescents themselves. The family of the adolescent and society itself, responds to the unfolding development, the sexuality, the drive for independence, the emerging intellectual and vocational potential, the search for trustworthy humans and belongingness with peers, society, and humanity, with responses ranging from healthy empathy to seduction, envy, and undue expectations often of stereotypic proportions. From a controlling apprehension about this emergence, the child can often be viewed with unreal dependence as the new hope for the better world. Entry to puberty and adolescence has deep significance throughout the history of mankind. The modern day child may well approach the task with more anxious expectations, and may well wonder what roles he will have to fulfil, what options will be possible, and what lies ahead. He has been drafted compulsorily—how will he serve? In the biologically intact child, where there has been a nurturing and facilitating environment developmental lines flow in genetic continuity. Physical, intellectual, emotional, and social parameters each show spurts and lags varying in timing and intensity. Earlier delays, deviations and defects may become relevant once more or be relegated to the past by new healthy adaptations. In this period the child is vulnerable from within and without to the manifestation of intensified biological drive, psychological growth and social demand. Family and social responsiveness must be matched by competence and availability of health professionals. Crises—whatever their origin—are a turning point between further continuity or pathological development.—and require the establishing of healthy adaptive inter-relationships with family, peer groups, school and community. This paper will illustrate current crises and clinical disorders which necessarily present to paediatric psychiatric services whose role may be crucial in offering diagnostic and therapeutic intervention for the child and family, ranging from crisis intervention models to extended care for the child and family.