This article is taken from a lecture given to the Medical Women's Federation. Dr. Yates starts by emphasizing the general nature of these problems apart from the mere existence of conscious difficulties. The core of the problem is that the adolescent is neither a child nor an adult, and lives in a little world of his own. He develops adult physical powers and has little sphere of adult action possessing adult obligations without privileges. Commenting on the rich nature of adolescent phantasy and dream life the author reviews the unreal nature of the world we ask our adolescents to live in. They are allowed so little contact with family labour or politics. They have all the qualities of omnipotence divorced from the thwarting facts of reality. Particularly difficult is the lot of the young person suddenly transferred by the gain of a scholarship from a working-class family to the University. The later reaction during a possible life of office drudgery may be severe. Some parents do not want their children to grow up and others