Rebels Without a Cause? Adolescents and Their Antihe
Published on Psychiatric Times
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Rebels Without a Cause? Adolescents and Their Antiheroes
September 01, 2006 | Dependent Personality Disorder [1], Major Depressive Disorder [2], Addiction
[3]
By Jeff Q. Bostic, MD [4], Caroly Pataki, MD [5], Yanni Rho, MD, MPH [6], Steve Schlozman, MD [7],
and Andrés S. Martin, MD, MPH [8]
Adolescents reject their parents’ icons and seek out and empower their own. Antiheroes seem
deliberately provocative, assailing almost every social convention of the adult generation, and
parents often fear they are leading youth astray.
Adolescents of every generation reject their parents' icons as they seek out and empower their own.
These icons fall along a continuum, from mainstream hero figures--usually tolerable to parents and
the adult generation, such as Kelly Clarkson, Beyoncé, and Usher--to the antiheroes at the other end,
such as Marilyn Manson, Courtney Love, Eminem, Dennis Rodman, and perhaps even fictional video
game characters such as Hitman and the protagonist CJ in Grand Theft Auto. These antiheroes seem
deliberately provocative, assailing almost every social convention of the adult generation, and
parents often fear they are leading youth astray.1 Indeed, identification with some youth subcultures
(eg, goth) may be associated with increased risk of self-harm.2
Yet every generation repeats this pattern, elevating their own rebel leaders while dismissing their
parents' icons. All along the spectrum, icons resonate with important themes inherent to adolescent
development and provide clinical opportunities to engage both adolescents struggling with
individuation and parents seeking skills to facilitate this process despite feeling stymied by their
adolescents.
Whether Eminem in the 2000s, Marilyn Manson in the 1990s, Alice Cooper in the 1970s, or Elvis
Presley or James Dean in the 1950s, antiheroes possess similar characteristics (Table 1), and these
characteristics amplify important developmental challenges faced by the adolescent. Moreover,
these antiheroes challenge the adolescent's parents, who are contending with their own
developmental hurdles imposed by the adolescent's separation/individuation process. Separation
and identification
The appeal of antiheroes coincides with 2 intertwined developmental tasks that are important in
adolescence. First, adolescents must separate enough from parents to identify their own interests
and to construct an identity. Second, adolescents must be able to connect to other peers as they
separate from parents. This is not a linear process, and the adolescent intermittently rejects and
then approaches parents for support during times when the adolescent experiences a failure or is
ostracized by his or her peer group. The adolescent may be harsh and critical of his parents at one
moment, fearing dependency and making an effort to separate, yet expect parents to be
compassionate the next moment, when the adolescent feels shunned or neglected by even a
subgroup of peers.
The phenomenon of adolescent antihero admiration can thus be viewed as a developmentally
important part of an adolescent's psychological growth toward individuation. Inclusion of temporary
identifications, even with outrageous figures, by adolescents is part of their process of deriving a
cohesive sense of self.3 Adolescents who struggle with feelings of alienation may be more prone to
try on an antihero identity among their explorations. Even this phase may ultimately strengthen their
final identity, since adolescents may distill antihero traits to manage their own fears of being outcast
as they strive for autonomy.
Both heroes and antiheroes may provide an identity way station, facilitating separation from parents
and offering the adolescent identifiable means (clothes, music, specific interests) to be recognized
by like-minded others, which helps adolescents identify potential peer connections. In the effort to
connect with similar peers, and to distance from dissimilar peers, adolescents exaggerate
differences among peer groups, including their musical preferences.4 However, the personas tried on
by the adolescent often wear poorly and may be abandoned relatively quickly, particularly if they do
not lead to useful connections to peers. The appeal of antiheroes
Antiheroes may particularly appeal to adolescents who, sensitive to their own flaws, see the antihero
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Rebels Without a Cause? Adolescents and Their Antihe
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as similarly flawed and shunned by adults. These adolescents also hope to find the ability to flourish
without depending on adults. Few have suggested that the appeal of Alice Cooper, Courtney Love, or
Marilyn Manson was primarily based on their vocal abilities. What antiheroes do possess, beyond
outrageous behavior, are uniqueness, creativity, and cour-age, which predominate over traits such
as perfect pitch or physical strength. In addition, they may help adolescents view their own flaws as
acceptable or even heroic badges of honor.
Adolescents often imitate the antihero, even in appearance, as they try to fashion themselves into a
figure similarly powerful to stand against authority figures, despite lacking attributes or talents
recognized by mainstream culture. Looking the part may be the most effective means by which
adolescents can demonstrate their need to play out the fantasy of emerging victorious. Antihero
identities adopted by adolescents are almost invariably temporary holding identities, as the
adolescent figures out that portraying the stage persona of the antihero does not work in real life as
fantasized. Case 1
J, a 15-year-old boy with depressive disorder and a propensity for fighting in school,
excitedly directed his therapist to a Web site featuring a famous and somewhat
disreputable sports figure physically attacking a commentator who was ridiculing the
player on national television. The patient stressed that many of his friends felt strongly
that this video gave credence to the argument that physical assault was a necessary and
justifiable response to verbal insults. As the video progresses, the sports figure leaps
across the interview table and attacks the broadcaster before he is pulled out of the fight
by station attendants.
The patient noted that many of his friends saw this scene as an example of how one can
be pushed toward violence as the only response to ongoing insults and therefore justified
his own continual pugilism in school and in the neighborhood. The therapist identified
with the patient, noting that it felt good to see the broadcaster deftly "handled" by the
professional ballplayer. However, both the therapist and patient also wondered whether
the player and the broadcaster were following a kind of unwritten script that, in the end,
made the player seem potentially even more foolish than expected. After all, it was
obvious, barring some unknown martial arts expertise on the part of the broadcaster,
that the athlete could easily overcome this adversary and that his response was
therefore particularly uncreative and predictable. A quick Google search revealed that
the incident had left the athlete in a state of media infamy, and the patient wondered
whether it would have been even more effective for the player to simply have walked off
the set, leaving the puerile broadcaster alone with his mockery.
While adolescents are seeking autonomy, parents may become fearful that their offspring may be
irreparably harmed by exposure to antiheroes.5,6 Indeed, violent imagery in the media may
negatively influence the development of adolescent attitudes such as empathy.7 The expansion of
mass media and the decrease in censorship provide adolescents more exposure to more extreme
images,8 desensitizing them to previously unspeakable behaviors.9-12
Antiheroes have been implicated in promoting negative, self-destructive adolescent behaviors and,
at the extreme, adolescent tragedies such as teen suicides.13-15 While a small fraction of severely
psychiatrically ill adolescents imitate the potentially violent antics of antihero personas, the vast
majority of adolescents can distinguish these staged acts from real lifestyles.
Antihero imitation may become an acceptable part of adolescent culture for healthy adolescents, but
when is it a sign of maladaptive behavior? Signs of potentially worrisome adolescent antihero
worship occur when it results in alienation, isolation, or humiliation rather than serving as a form of
connection. Furthermore, when imitation is coupled with expressions of any self-injurious behavior or
violence toward self or others, this signals the need for intervention. Case 2
T, a 14-year-old girl, described in outpatient therapy how she felt alienated by peers
after dying her hair black, wearing black nail polish, and changing her cell phone
ringtone to a rap song. She complained that peers she had known since elementary
school stopped talking to her. In therapy, T began showing her therapist her MySpace
profile as well as those of boyfriends, including one whose profile included pictures of
marijuana leaves. T's profile included photos of multiple friends, some in sexually
provocative positions.
The therapist examined not only T's profile but others' profiles on MySpace, as well, as T
and the therapist imagined what the "real person" was like who put up various profiles.
They soon recognized that T's sexually provocative material made some boys expect that
she would "put out," which put her in uncomfortable situations, including other girls
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talking badly about her. T recognized that she wished others would think she was "hot"
so that she might become more popular among peers, and she could not think of other
ways to attract their attention or respect. Although she had relatively little insight into
the reasons behind her music choices, she thought others would think she was "mature"
and "hip-hop," which would elevate her over other girls. T's fears of being neglected, as
well as her choice of ways to attract attention, became a focus of therapy. While she
dyed her hair multiple other colors to imitate the female singer Pink during the course of
treatment, connections between feeling "not special" and then taking such actions led T
to recognize her overwhelming impulses to do anything to avoid loneliness. As T
examined the consequences of such acts, she realized that she often did not obtain what
she wanted. She began articulating her feelings to others during the times when she felt
lonely and needy of attention. Clinical opportunities with adolescents and their parents
As shown in these case illustrations, antiheroes may be useful clinically as a vehicle for addressing
adolescent struggles with separation and identity development. Specifically, antiheroes may provide
an additional window to the soul of the adolescent. Based on the adolescent's passion for what the
antihero represents, discussions of antiheroes may serve as a projection device for clinicians and
parents. Antiheroes may also facilitate discussion of complex issues, since the adolescent describes
reactions to the antihero that in reality reflect the adolescent's own worries and concerns.
While the adolescent may experience anxiety caused by separation/individuation fears, parents may
also feel anxious in that they fear losing control over their child, fear criticism from other parents,
and perhaps most important, fear their child will abandon their values and instead emulate the
antihero du jour. The adult's familiar psychological defense system may be challenged in these
circumstances. Parental regression to authoritarianism or denial manifesting as avoidance or neglect
may emerge, causing the parents to overlook the underlying needs of the separating adolescent.
Even small tensions may become too much to bear when both the adolescent and parent cannot
harness their own anxieties, and then both may rely on more primitive defenses that undermine
efforts toward constructive negotiation. While disconnection and avoidance of anxiety-provoking
interactions occur, perhaps facilitating adolescent separation, this scenario does not allow parents to
model or provide the adolescent with useful responses to employ as coping skills.
The clinical opportunity available amid these parent-adolescent conflicts is to examine optimal
coping skills to navigate this complicated separation/individuation process with parents and
adolescents. The adolescent's interests in icons, even antiheroes, provide important channels of
communication and cues. If these are recognized in a developmental context, adults can attune and
assist the adolescent in separating while minimizing their own distress. Clinical opportunities for both
adolescents and parents are outlined in Table 2.
Negative impacts of the antihero on the adolescent, based on observed behavior or suspicion of
impending harm to the adolescent or others, warrant attention by the clinician. The function served
by the antihero can inform the clinician as to which interventions are most likely to benefit the
patient and family members. Functional assessments usually involve the identification of the settings
or context in which the adolescent's troublesome behaviors occur.16 In addition, functional
assessments examine the antecedents leading to the inappropriate behavior and the consequences
of these behaviors.
For example, an adolescent may frighten parents and teachers by dressing like a particular icon. This
behavior may occur only at school, or everywhere, and may have emerged after the adolescent was
not accepted for a sports team or school musical group, or simply following rejection by peers. The
consequences of this behavior may include formation of bonds with similar peers, expanding a group
of accepting peers, and the added pressures of increased conflicts with parents that the new peers
may bring.
For some adolescents, role-modeling an antihero may serve as a behavior that emerges in response
to disappointed or disapproving adults and peers. Moreover, the antihero remains available to the
adolescent through the media for ongoing direction about what to wear and how to act. Yet the
adolescent can never fully identify with the antihero, so this costume can ultimately be discarded;
that is, since the adolescent did not create this persona, it resides with the antihero when the
adolescent is ready to abandon it. What is harder for the adolescent to abandon is the circle of peers
who may similarly be identified by their interest in an antihero.
Ultimately, antiheroes and what they represent suffer the fate of other antithetical ideas in society:
they become somehow assimilated into the current adolescent culture. To continue as antiheroes,
these characters have to rebel against their socially acknowledged role. This does not mean
antiheroes necessarily sell out, but instead that antiheroes provoke a response from mainstream
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society, which most often adjusts to them. To this end, it is helpful to remind parents that the values
of antiheroes are reflections of the prevailing culture as much as they are reactions to the values of
the prevailing culture. Every era has its heroes and villains, and most past villains are eventually
understood in the context of more mainstream ideals.
Adolescents often need help in negotiating the sometimes turbulent trail toward adulthood. Adults
can be an invaluable support to adolescents by preparing (beyond protecting) them to contend with
the media barrage to which they are currently exposed. Adults can promote understanding of
adolescent developmental issues through thoughtful examination of adolescent choices in music,
media, and pop culture icons--including antiheroes. Adults who deal with adolescents may set goals
to model tolerance of adolescents' individual choices while setting guidelines for behavior that
demonstrate the basic values that are important to adults and to successful societal integration.
Media pop culture icons and antiheroes present clinicians and adults with the opportunity to work
through critical developmental challenges with adolescents by using sometimes distressing images
to address struggles leading to individuation and autonomy.
Dr Bostic is director of school psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and McLean
Hospital, Belmont, Mass. Dr Pataki is director of residency training in child psychiatry at the
University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles. Dr Rho is a child psychiatry
fellow at Cambridge Hospital, Mass. Dr Schlozman is associate director of residency training in child
psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital. Dr Martin is director of the child
psychiatry inpatient service at Yale-New Haven Hospital, Conn.Dr Bostic has received grant support
and/or honoraria from Abbott, Forest, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, and Pfizer. Dr Pataki has received
research support from Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Novartis, and Shire. Drs Rho, Schlozman, and Martin have no
financial relationships to disclose.
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