Running Head: RITES OF PASSAGE The most important factors in adolescent journey through puberty are peers, family and school. Any offset of these factors can lead to depression, drugs criminal acts and/or more. Furthermore can be the beginning of serious behavioral problems, such as substance abuse, gang activity, risky sexual behaviors or other form of reckless endangerments. Many studies show that puberty is related to a rise in parent-child conflict. During this time both parents and teenagers report feeling less-close to one another. (Laursen, Coy, & Collins 1998; Steinberg & Morris, 2001). In 1928 the American Anthropologist Margaret Mead published her controversial finding in coming of age is Samoa. The study was conducted in a village of six hundred people, she concluded that adolescent in Samoa was not mark by the emotional or psychological distress, anxiety or confusion often seen in the United States. (New World Encyclopedia, 2008). In modern societies the rites of passage have been transformed. The new generation has separated from the old to welcome the new. Children are making new traditions, new rituals. By contrast modern rites of passage are more personal and familial. Today’s rites of passage are less exclusive, through class ethnic, and gender variations. Every group now has its own version of the standard rites of passage. Puberty can be a traumatic experience for boys and girls. Parent need to support their children and help them through that patch. They must be willing to listen to the children, to see the light of their true spirit shining within. Parent must be willing to nurture their spirit with respect and allow it to blossom. References