Throughout puberty, young people develop emotionally, physically and socially. The Tanner SMR Model (1962) allows professionals to gauge the degree of pubertal maturation that has occurred among adolescents, regardless of chronological age. The scale has five stages and includes the appearance of pubic hair, development of breasts, occurrence of menarche among females, degree of testicular and penile development and the appearance of pubic hair among males. This was useful in Child Y who over a twelve month period showed physical signs of growth and adolescence as well as a change in his friendship group and experimentation with drugs, smoking and alcohol. Coie (1999, p.779) states that "the behaviour of a child during adolescence has a direct correlation with their environment." However, Giedd (1999, p.861-3) argues that 'during adolescence the brain experiences a second wave of overproduction of grey matter in the frontal lobe which is the thinking part of the brain and deals with a young person's self-control, decision making and emotions.' I agree with this statement as I believe it is the brain development during adolescence rather that their environment which is causing the risky behaviours he is displaying. .
A young person's culture, agency and transition have a major impact on their social development. Barker (2005, p.448) states that 'in the social sciences, agency refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices. Transition is used to refer to changes between services such as moving from primary to secondary school and culture is the environment around a young person and the people that influence them. Thompson (2004, p185) states that "for young people the transition to adulthood or independence has become much more protracted, unpredictable and increasingly fragmented in that the different markers of adulthood are increasingly uncoupled from each other with culture and agency having an impact.
