Betty, Paul, Mary, Joe

Most baffling of man's seven ages is adolescence. A few years ago a commission of the Progressive Education Association undertook to find out what makes adolescents tick. In a monumental five-year study it examined thousands, collected over 600 case histories. Fortnight ago a Swiss biologist and psychologist, Peter Bios, friend of Sigmund Freud, summed up the commission's findings in a report on four representative youngsters named Betty, Paul Mary and Joe (The Adolescent Personality; D. Appleton-Century; $3).

Betty, almost 15, lives in a fashionable neighborhood, wears flashy clothes, is plain-looking, has an I. Q. of 129 (very bright). She does well in English, likes to write poetry; but in other studies, especially Latin, her work is indifferent. She has few dates, is self-conscious with boys, sometimes dreams that she is herself a boy. Chief cause of her unhappiness: a domineering mother. Her mother clearly shows preference for Betty's older brother, who was good at Latin. Betty believes all her troubles will end when she has a disfiguring mole removed from her left cheek.

Paul, 15, only child in a happy, well-adjusted family, is a mathematical genius (I. Q. 172). Quick-tempered and talkative, he has a sharp tongue, often annoys classmates, has few intimate friends. He shows no interest in girls. While this is a common adolescent trait, it is exaggerated in Paul because he is emotionally dependent on his parents. His chief conflict: whether he should think first of his own career or of supporting his parents.

Mary, 18, is plump, pink-cheeked, Catholic, the daughter of a musician who deserted his family for a chorus girl. Mary has a part-time NYA job, goes to evening college, not because she likes to study but because she believes it gives her prestige. She also shows her insecurity by constantly changing her hairdo. Mary likes to dance, mortally hates & fears being kissed by boys (a transfer of resentment against her father). Eventually, assured by her interviewer that there was no harm in kissing, Mary learned to like it.

Joe, nearly 17, son of a no-account fish dealer, is big & broad, introduced himself to his interviewer by announcing: "My whole trouble is in my build. I am overdeveloped." A hearty lad, Joe grew up faster than his contemporaries. He played around with girls, worried about catching a venereal disease, told lies, had few scruples about forging a birth certificate to get a driver's license. But Joe turned out all right in the end; he fell in love with a nice girl, got from her parents the encouragement and affection that his own failed to give him.

Some of Dr. Blos's conclusions:

> An adolescent should be treated as an individual, with his own peculiar problems.

> Once the key to his behavior has been found, it shows an underlying consistency.

> An adolescent must be given increasing responsibility to help him grow up.

> If boys or girls do not adjust themselves emotionally to the opposite sex during adolescence, they probably never will in a normal way.

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