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44 BIOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL UNIVERSALSperiods stand out for consideration from this work, characterized by concentratedchange in individual adolescents, their contexts, relationships, and life experiences:early adolescence and the transition to adulthood (which is referred to here asemerging adulthood).Early adolescence is a time when there are many biological and brain changes,accompanied by changes in appearance, interest and motivation, risk-seekingbehavior, schools context, peer interaction, mobility, and relationships with parents(Dahl & Spear, 2004; Steinberg et al., 2006). All of the major aspects of aresilience model are changing: age-salient developmental tasks and what is requiredto succeed at school or with friends or behave responsibly; risks and adversitieschange as challenging new experiences pile up from biological, cognitive,and environmental changes and their interaction, and new conflicts emerge withparents or peers; vulnerability appears to increase in a variety of ways, with increasingsleep deprivation, sensitivity to stress, less support or scaffolding fromadults, greater exposure to and understanding of negative events and trauma presentedon TV or in the community, and even possibly the activation of geneticallybased vulnerabilities to specific disorders; resources and protection shift asparents avoid or increase monitoring, peers become better friends or more deviant,and opportunities for activities and cultural rites of passage become available.Clearly there is a shifting of challenges, capacity for adaptation, andopportunities at many levels of analysis. For young people who enter this periodwith a track record of poor adaptation and few resources or protection, the roadcan be very rocky and there are sharp increases over these years in emotional distressor depression, the risk for substance use and dependence or other risky behaviors,and criminal behavior, particularly among high-risk youth. Young peoplewho were already showing resilience often continue to do well, though some flounderin early adolescence; it is uncommon to see newly emerging resilience duringthis period. Most of the evidence tracing the course of problem behaviors, suchas serious offending, underage drinking, depression, or other internalizing symptoms,over time show generally rising arcs of problems or mental health issuesduring this period of development, although there are many youth who continueto have low rates of any kind of problems during early adolescence (Dahl & Spear,2004; Ge, Natsuaki, & Conger, 2006; National Institute on Alcohol Abuse andAlcoholism, 2004/2005; Steinberg et al., 2006; Thornberry & Krohn, 2003). Theevidence on this transition suggests that contemporary societies may not be providingadequate scaffolding for many young people in this period of development,though Spear (this volume) has noted that this period in other species also may befraught with hazard. It is interesting to note that for centuries, this is also a timeperiod when cultures have provided structured support and immersion in the culturethrough rites of passage, apprenticeships, religious training, and so on.In contrast, the ending of adolescence and transition to adulthood, or emergingadulthood period (Arnett & Tanner, 2006), which is also characterized by concen-